What Is She Doing Here?
by FreakyGreenEyes123
Summary: <html><head></head>Lena and Stef are in a committed relationship and are ready to take the next step. 5-year-old Callie... is not. (AU) Callie is Lena's adoptive child and Stef has to find a place in their family. With no parental experience since she didn't have Brandon, will Stef be able to handle Callie? And will Lena be able to handle the other obstacles that will get in the way?</html>
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

_In this fic, Callie is Lena's adoptive child. No other children are involved (yet). We'll see where this goes…_

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>_  
><em>

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><p>Callie looked up from her coloring book at her mother who was fidgeting in the kitchen. The five-year old girl appeared confused at first as she watched Lena running from left to right with a ton of plates and then from right to left to grab something from the refrigerator. She chuckled silently as she always loved to see her mother in this crazed-state. It was almost as if she was watching a live cartoon rather than witnessing her mother stress out.<p>

"Mommy?" she started.

"What is it, honey?" Lena asked as she pulled the lid off of the pot to stir the spaghetti sauce.

"What are you doin?" Callie said in a rhythmic tone.

"Huh?" Lena began in confusion. "I'm cooking, sweetie. What does it look like I'm doing?"

_Dancing,_ the girl wanted to answer but thought better not to. "Are you late?" Callie continued.

"Why do you ask that?" Lena furrowed her eyebrows.

"Because… you only act crazy like dis in the morning when we're late to school."

"Callie," Lena warned.

"I didn't call you crazy," Callie responded. "I said dat you're acting crazy. See, dat's not the same ding."

"You know that it is," Lena corrected as she gave her daughter a stern look.

"Okay, I'm sorry."

Lena nodded, "Okay. Thank you… And I'm running around like a chicken without a head because Stef is coming over and I want to finish cooking."

"Who's Stef?" Callie asked innocently as she grabbed a green crayon from the crayon box and stared at Ariel's tail in the book.

Lena looked back up at her daughter in astoundment and watched as she continued to color away inside of the book. _She can't possibly be serious?_ she thought to herself. _I had been talking about Stef coming to meet her for three days straight._ _Had I just been talking to myself?_ "Callie?"

"Yes, Mommy?" she answered without even glancing up to meet her mother's eyes.

"Can you look at me, please?"

"Yes, Mommy?" Callie asked again as if she hadn't even heard her.

"Callie, look at me," Lena continued and finally got the girl to lift her eyes to her.

"What?" she asked in confusion.

Lena took a deep breath before she continued, "I told you about Stef, remember? I let you know that she was very eager to meet you. And I also told you that Stef and I have been going out for a while now."

"Oh, she's your friend. Okay," Callie nodded. "Like Jenna?" the kid tried to act as if she understood.

"No, not exactly. Not like Jenna," Lena said awkwardly. "She's my girlfriend, like Linda."

"I miss Linda," Callie confessed and it was obvious that she hadn't heard the girlfriend part. "Is Linda comin' too?" she asked with a hint of gleam in her eyes.

"No, bug…Linda and I broke up, remember?" Lena tried to remind her.

"Why?"

Lena stared her daughter in the eye and knew that she shouldn't lie to her but telling her the truth was out of the question. She couldn't say _because Linda left us for a man, got pregnant, and abandoned us for a family of her own._

"Mommy?" Callie questioned when her mother took to long to answer.

"Did you finish your homework?" Lena attempted to distract her.

"Yes. But…"

"What is it, sweetie?"

Callie pointed to the water that was spilling from the pot on the stove, "I dink you're cooking wrong."

Lena quickly whipped around to tend to the food in the kitchen. "I think you're right, Callie," she mumbled before she heard a soft knock on the door.

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><p>"I'll get it!" Callie called as she raced for the door before she heard her mother's yell and stopped in her tracks.<p>

Lena quickly shut off the stove before calling out for her. "Callie! Remember what I said about running over and opening the door?"

"Dat dere are bad people like kidnappers dat can come n take me," Callie moaned.

"Yes, and it's very dangerous and you shouldn't do it," Lena pointed her finger at her child warningly.

Callie huffed before walking back toward the dinning room table and sulking back into her chair. "You never let me do anything," the girl mumbled to herself as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the coloring book.

Lena turned around and gave her a look before walking over and opening the door for Stef. But rather than opening the door and letting her in right away, she stepped outside and gave Stef a small smile, making sure to hold the door ajar so that Callie couldn't see them.

"Uh oh," Stef's smile quickly faded as she saw the worried look on Lena's face. "Who died?"

"Oh, no one," Lena assured her.

"Well, that's good news," Stef asserted as she leaned in to kiss her girlfriend but couldn't deny noticing the small bit of resistance in her woman's kiss. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Lena faked laughed, "Oh, it's not me who I'm worried about…"

Stef stared back at her girlfriend in confusion, "What's wrong?" she asked as she tried to peek her head in to see inside of Lena's apartment.

"Well, it seems as if Callie… didn't know you were coming," Lena confessed.

"What?" Stef questioned. "I thought you said that you told her about the dinner."

"Oh, she heard the part about the dinner, just…not the part of _you coming to it_. I think it's this selective attention some kids do at this age. A child only hears what he or she wants to hear, and just blocks out everything else. It's her newest way to make me crazy, I think," Lena complained.

"Awwwww, honey," Stef tried to console as she kissed Lena again on the lips. "So she doesn't know I was coming. Big deal."

"Well…" Lena started.

Stef sighed, "Do I even want to ask what?"

"It seems as if… hm…" Lena voice still depicted worry.

"Just say it."

"Stef, she just found out about you like five seconds ago."

The blonde's eyes widened with horror.

"I know, I'm sorry," Lena apologized. "I've been talking about you nonstop for days. She just… _hasn't been listening to me_," she voiced in frustration before she let out a deep breath, "Maybe we should just reschedule?"

"Ya think," Stef asked sarcastically before she looked up at a guilty looking Lena. She had never been so nervous to meet a five-year-old in her entire life, but to have to go through this all over again seemed like torture.

"I'm sorry," Lena said again nervously. She felt completely at fault for screwing it all up.

"It's fine," Stef sighed. "I'm okay. As long as I got to see you, even if it was only for a minute, I'm happy," she continued as she bent in to kiss Lena's lips.

"I love you," she reminded her.

"You better," Stef teased. And immediately afterward, Lena released her girlfriend's lips the second she felt the doorknob loosen from her grasp.

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><p>"Mommy?" Callie asked as she walked beside her mother and glanced up at a blonde woman in a long blue sundress. Stef stood there awkwardly at first unsure of whether or not to greet Lena's daughter right now. "Hi," Callie started not leaving the blonde much of a choice.<p>

"Uh, hi?" Stef started nervously as she peered at her girlfriend with worry.

"Callie, what did I tell you about opening the door without asking who it is first?" her mother questioned.

"But I dought you got stolen," Callie tried to reason even though she had been eavesdropping throughout most of their conversation.

Lena smiled as she receive a questioning look from Stef, "I told her not to open the door to strangers and had to instill a little bit of fear, so that she would finally get the memo."

"Uhuh," Stef nodded. "Gotcha… So?"

"So, I guess we'll see you around?" Lena questioned.

"Absolutely," Stef continued with a smile. "Bye," she waved to the little girl.

"You're not hungry anymore?" Callie questioned as Lena raised her eyebrows to Stef in surprise.

"Um… I—" Stef began to speak but Lena quickly interrupted.

"I think she is. Right, Stef? You do seem a little hungry," Lena answered with a nod so that Stef would get the hint.

"You know what? I guess I am," Stef smiled as she followed both of them inside before looking at Lena skeptically.

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><p><strong>AN: So, ****I wanted to write a Stef and Lena fic for a while and thought it'd be funny to mix it up with Stef experiencing parenting for the first time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I got a concern about this being like another fic that's on here, and I can assure you that it will definitely not be. I have not read that fic, simply because I don't read much on here at all due to all of my ongoing stories, my school work, my job, and my social life. They consume most of my time. But from the first chapter of the other fic, the only similarity that I can tell is that Lena is Callie's foster-mom (adoptive-mom here). Now from what I understand, it's also about Stef and Lena meeting and all of the other children coming together. In MY FIC, I will focus on Stef and Lena's growing relationship, and Stef attempting to form a mother-daughter relationship with Callie, hence the title "What Is **_**She**_** Doing Here?" **_**She=Stef**_**… Stef will also be dealing with a child for the first time and figuring out if she can handle it since she didn't have Brandon. She's going to be questioning whether she does in fact belong in Lena's life. Callie will have her own struggles as she's forced to accept that her mom has a love life. And as a daughter to a previously single parent, I can relate my younger self to this ordeal, and it is a difficult concept to grasp for some children. Considering that Callie has just been adopted, I could imagine it being even **_**more**_** difficult for her.**

**Now, I do my best to come up with different ideas in all of my stories and I feel like this one is no different. If you feel like it's too similar and are getting offended, please just don't read.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

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><p>Lena watched as Callie ran back toward the table to continue coloring in her book. She grabbed a red crayon and began working on Ariel's hair and then looked back up at the two women.<p>

"Do you wanna color with me?" Callie asked the blonde.

_This sounds easier than I thought. Coloring, I can do, _Stef thought to herself but still glanced toward Lena for some sign of reassurance. A small smile from her was all she needed, "Sure, I'd love to color with you, Callie," Stef said in a kiddy voice.

"Okay," Callie said matter-of-factly. "We'll have to turn da page so you can color one and I can color da other."

Stef sat down on the chair beside the tiny brunette, "Sounds great."

_Would Lena think I was trying too hard?_ she contemplated for a second, hoping that she wasn't making a fool of herself by talking in a child-like manner.

But Lena was listening intently to them even though her back was turned away as she drained the water from the pot. She was feeling relieved by how well things were turning out despite the short notice Callie apparently received. The woman had assumed that Stef coming into Callie's life would be difficult for her to comprehend, since Linda had been involved with Lena since before Callie came along. But every time Lena turned around to peek a quick glance at the two, they seemed to have been hitting it off.

Callie looked up to Stef's face a few times while they were coloring, though Stef tried her best not to notice in an effort to not scare the kid. But after what Callie said next, she had no choice but to do so.

"Mommy said dat you're a lot like Linda."

Lena tensed at Callie's statement, knowing very well that she hadn't said it the way Callie had. _She should've considered the possibility of her daughter bringing it up._

Stef lifted her eyes from the page to Callie who was staring at her, awaiting a response. "Really? She said that?" Stef tried to sound casual about it as she turned to look over to Lena, who was obviously trying her best to avoid an unavoidable situation.

"Uhuh," Callie nodded. "But I don't dink you do. Linda had black, long, and pretty hair. N your hair is… yellow."

Stef laughed nervously as she attempted to grab the blue crayon from the Crayola box, "I'm sorry to disappoint you," she answered with a smile.

"It's okay," Callie assured her. "Mommy said dat it doesn't matter what color your skin is or what kind a hair you have, all dat matters is…" Callie paused when she forgot the rest of the words. "I don't really remember what she said. Someding about being kind n in love or someding," she whispered so that only Stef would hear.

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><p>Lena turned around to glance at both of them and noticed Stef looking back at her in confusion. "Honey, can you come here a second?" Lena asked.<p>

"Okay," Callie answered as she started to get up.

"No, sweetheart. I'm sorry. I need Stef's help with the plates."

"Sure thing," Stef said as she started to get up and twirled the girl's hair before walking into the kitchen.

Callie glared at the blonde through squinted eyes in response though neither adult saw it. But if they had, they would've realized that it was obvious that something just happened to throw her off.

"You told her that I was like Linda?" Stef whisper-asked as they both kept their backs facing the little girl.

"Not exactly. I was trying to explain that you were my girlfriend. So she asked me if you were like Jenna. I told her no, that you were my girlfriend like Linda. Babe, you two are nothing alike, I swear."

"Well, apparently not," Stef raised her eyebrows. "…Linda had long, black, and pretty hair and mine is _just yellow_," Stef said with a frown and shrugged her shoulders.

Lena chuckled as she stepped closer toward her girlfriend, "You know that I wouldn't change anything about you. Not even your hair," she assured the blonde.

"I'm sure Callie would beg to differ," Stef smiled.

"I'm so sorry about that, Stef. If I knew she have gotten so confused, I wouldn't have—"

"It's fine, my love," Stef assured her as she put her hand on Lena's shoulder. "I just have to talk to her a little bit more. I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up for this position, right?" she made a face at Lena as she grabbed two plates from her.

"I hope so," Lena smiled wide before Stef leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek.

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><p>But the second her lips touched the woman, Callie immediately called for her mother's attention, "Mommy."<p>

Lena quickly turned to face Callie, "Yes, baby. What's wrong?"

Callie kept her eyes focused on Stef, "Can I take a bath?"

"What?" Lena asked as if she misheard her, "You'll take a bath later before we go to bed. We're going to eat in a minute, okay?" Lena informed the girl and waited a few seconds before she turned around to fix her daughter's plate.

"But I'm not hungry," Callie answered matter-of-factly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Lena opened her mouth a little in surprise of her daughter's persistence. Normally, Callie would just accept whatever Lena told her and respond with an "Okay."

"What do you mean you're not hungry, sweetie? You haven't eaten in hours… You have to eat something," she asserted before she turned away from the girl, refusing to accept no for an answer.

Stef took a deep breath before she walked back over to the table and set the plates down but the second she did, Callie stood up from her seat and gave her a dirty look before walking away. Stef squinted her eyes in confusion as she turned to see if Lena had noticed but her back was still turned toward the stove.

And at first she thought she was imagining it, but a few seconds later both women were startled by the bathroom door being slammed shut.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Lena turned around to look at Stef before realizing what just happened. "Callie just slammed the bathroom door shut didn't she?" she asked the blonde as if she were really unsure about it.

Stef glanced down at the food on the table in an effort to not get in the middle of the volcano that she felt was about to erupt, "I…I don't…"

But before Stef could get an answer out Lena walked back over toward the table to drop Callie's food onto it and stormed deeper inside of the apartment. By the time she made it to the door, she was almost sure she'd lose it when she heard the shower turn on. Lena twisted the doorknob but it was already locked which forced her to knock loudly it four times, "Callie, what are you doing?" she asked in a loud and firm tone.

_Callie didn't respond_.

Stef looked at the food on the table and became uncomfortable as she listened to Lena. "I guess I'll just take my food to go," she whispered to herself.

"Callie, open this door right now," Lena continued as she tried her best to not raise her voice too loud in front of Stef, but the urge was getting harder and harder to fight as she heard Callie turning the shower knob all the way. "Callie, you are going to be in so much trouble if you don't open this door right now!" Lena threatened as she began knocking on the door again incessantly.

Stef's eyes widened as she grabbed the wine bottle that was already on the table and began to pour herself a glass.

Callie became frightened when she heard how serious her mother sounded, since she had never gotten that loud with her. She instinctively unlocked the door and stared up at her mother with glaring eyes. Even though she was scared, she couldn't help the anger she felt at the thought of both of them in the kitchen together…_kissing_.

Lena sighed when she realized that Callie hadn't gotten into the shower yet or even taken off her purple dress. She walked further in and shut off the shower before turning around and seeing that her daughter was already gone. Immediately, she felt the anger rise up inside of her again, but she took another deep breath and tried her best to mask it. _She's just challenging me,_ Lena thought to herself. _She's trying to get a rise out of me, so don't let _her. Lena walked back out of the bathroom and saw Callie's bedroom door slowly close.

"Stef, I'll be right there!" Lena yelled hoping that the woman hadn't already left.

"Yup! Still here!" Stef replied as she poured even more wine in her glass. "I love children," she mumbled to herself over and over again as she tried to convince herself that it was true.

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><p>Lena walked into her daughter's room and at that moment she was grateful that Callie's door didn't have a lock. The first thing she saw was Callie sitting up in her bed with the <em>Cat In The Hat<em> book on her lap. The girl tried her best to ignore her mother and attempted to stare at the pages as if she was reading, but both of them knew very well that she couldn't.

"Callie, what's gotten into you? I specifically told you that you weren't allowed to take a shower, and you ran into the bathroom and turned on the water? Why?"

"No," she answered matter-of-factly, "You tol' me not to take a _bath_ so I was goin' to take a shower instead. So I listen."

Lena was far from fond of Callie's reasoning and tried her best not to overreact, "Honey, either way you knew that what you did was wrong. I know you do," she eyed her daughter sternly before continuing, "I warned you that we were going to eat in a minute. And not to mention, I don't want you slamming doors in this house. That's not allowed."

"N I tol' you I wasn't hungry. N I didn't slam no doors. You're hearing things," the girl shrugged her shoulders.

_She's not going to make this easy for me, is she? _Lena questioned herself. "Watch the way you speak to me, Callie," Lena pointed her finger at her accusingly. "Yes, you did slam the bathroom door because you were angry. That's not allowed… And I don't care whether you're hungry or not. If I say you have to eat, you have to eat. You can't go all of those hours without eating."

Callie rolled her eyes as she flipped the page of the book and tried to focus on the cat instead.

Lena nodded and took a deep breath. "Is it Stef? Do you not like her? …You both were doing fine earlier. Did she say something to you that hurt your feelings or—"

"No, I just don't like her," Callie admitted as she turned to another page.

"Why?" Lena questioned as she took a seat on Callie's bed.

"Because I don't," Callie answered as if that would be the end of it.

"Don't you think you should give her a chance at least? She really likes you and I think if we all sat down together, you would really like her too if you got to know her."

Callie shook her head slightly and turned to another page.

"Why don't we all get back to the table and have a nice dinner, huh? That's gotta be better than looking at this old book that we've read a thousand times, right?"

"If _you_ wanna go eat, then go eat _with her_. That's _your_ girlfriend. _Not_ mine. N I'm _not _hungry."

Lena took her daughter's words in, and it was obvious that they really hit her hard. She couldn't understand how Callie could be so resistant to someone she cared so deeply for. _She wasn't like this with Linda, so why did she dislike Stef so much?_ It didn't make any sense to her.

"Callie," Lena started, "Don't you think Stef will get her feelings hurt if you don't come back to table with us? She came here to meet you."

"I _don't_ care. I _didn't_ tell her to," Callie replied firmly.

Lena took in a deep breath and stood up from the bed and began to walk out. She wasn't going to force Callie to have dinner with them because she knew that Callie would probably hate her for it. And she wasn't going to make Stef even more uncomfortable, if Callie were to say something even remotely hurtful to her, which she was almost positive would have happened.

The second Lena shut Callie's bedroom door, she hear the girl's voice again. "N don't let her touch my coloring book no more! She already ruined it!"

Lena furrowed her eyebrows and thought better not to engage in Callie while she was like this. _When you engage them, you're letting the child win,_ she thought to herself before she found the courage to make her way back over to the dining room.

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><p>She smiled softly when she saw that Stef had the bottle of wine in front of her. <em>No doubt that this must have been stressful for her.<em> "I'm so sorry about all of this. I knew that we should have rescheduled. I should have went with my gut."

"It's fine, Love," Stef replied. "…Though the wine is not. I'm so embarrassed. I don't drink very often but I have no idea what the hell got into me. I just…"

Lena stared at the wine bottle and realized that it was over halfway empty and chuckled, "You were stressed out. I get it. No one is judging," she informed her as she walked into the kitchen and opened one of the cabinets to pull out another bottle. "I think I could use a drink myself, actually…"

Stef smiled and looked down at the coloring book, "I didn't mean to ruin it," she answered truthfully as she tried to figure out what she had done wrong.

_She colored in the lines perfectly… _

_What else was she supposed to do?_

Lena walked over and sighed, "Oh you heard that huh?" she tried to smile even though she didn't like the tone Callie used when she said it.

"It was kind of hard not to," Stef continued, "I'll buy her another one soon. I promise."

Lena finished pouring herself a glass before she looked over to the woman, "Oh you don't have to do that. Callie is just angry with me, I think. Not you," Lena let her know but paused when she got to look at Stef's page, "Okay, maybe it's you," she answered flatly.

"What's wrong?" Stef asked as she tried hard not to sound completely at fault.

"Well…" Lena started but wondered if pointing it out would hurt her girlfriend's feelings.

"What is it?" Stef urged her.

Lena sighed. "…Ariel's tail isn't blue and her top isn't red," Lena scrunched up her face and tried to understand if that was what had bothered Callie.

Stef stared at the page guiltily, "Does it really matter what color I used? It's just a—"

"To Callie, yes," Lena informed her. "When it comes to coloring Disney princesses, the colors _always_ matter." Lena stopped when she saw the saddened look on the woman's face. "But you didn't know, babe. It's not your fault," Lena responded as she leaned Stef towards her and gave her a kiss on her forehead with a small smile.

"I totally screwed this up," Stef realized

"No, you didn't," she assured. "I have a feeling this is about something more than just Ariel's tail and bra. I think Callie is just using this to add fuel to the fire."

"So she doesn't like me for more reasons than my coloring? Oh, that just makes me feel so much better," Stef said in a sarcastic tone.

"She will come around, Stef. She has too."

"I just wish I came here with a map or an instruction manual or something."

"There's no manual on Callie. _Trust me_, I've searched," Lena smiled.

Stef laughed in response, "Well, now that I've drunken all of your wine, I think I should go. I don't want to overstay my welcome."

"Oh no," Lena shook her head. "You are not driving like that officer. You should know better."

"I only had like two glasses, Lena. I'm fine. Seriously."

"Oh, I'm sorry? Isn't that what you told me all of your DWI's say? Something about them only having two drinks?" Lena teased.

Stef made a guilty expression, "I'm not lying though."

Lena nodded and responded with an unbelievable, "Uhuh."

"Sweetheart, your daughter doesn't want me here and I really don't want to tick her off anymore than I already have…" Stef started to stand up.

"So you want to just tick me off instead?" Lena asked sarcastically as she gently pushed Stef back onto her chair. "If you leave, not only is it dangerous for you to drive like that—"

"But I'm not—"

"It also gives my daughter incentive to treat you like this every time you come over…Callie needs to learn that her outbursts will not be rewarded. Andddd I want her to get used to you… to us. She's not going to do that if she says jump and that's what you do, Babe... First rule in dealing with a child: Don't let them walk all over you because they will, and you'll lose."

"So this is just a game, is that it?"

"Pretty much," Lena admitted.

"You know that I never lose in games, right?" Stef smirked.

"That's what I'm counting on," Lena smiled back as she leaned in to kiss the blonde.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

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><p>When Stef's eyes finally opened the next morning, her surroundings immediately put her in a confused state. <em>Where the hell am I?<em> she thought to herself as she stared up at a ceiling that she had never woken up to before.

It wasn't until she saw the color of Lena's caramel soft skin right in front of her that she remembered what had happened. She lifted her body up a little from the couch and the first thing she saw was the title menu of _The Heat_ replaying over and over again on the television screen. _Did we even watch the entire movie?_ she wondered as she started to get up.

_She remembered starting it but never remembered finishing it…_

And as hard as Stef tried to get up from the couch without waking Lena, her plan proved to be unsuccessful when the woman beside her startled her with her voice, "Leaving already?" she questioned with a smile as she sat upright and turned to face the blonde.

Stef's face depicted embarrassment at first but she tried to play it off, "Uh…no. I was just—"

"You were just?" Lena squinted her eyes but couldn't help but reveal a smirk. "You know… I thought we already discussed this the last time. Don't tell me you're going to be just as stubborn as Callie…"

Stef smiled awkwardly as she remembered the first morning after her and Lena slept together. The blonde had snuck out of her own apartment and waited in her car for Lena to leave because she had no idea what to do. That was one of her biggest regrets but she did it out of confusion. This time she felt like she had a better reason. "Babe, if your daughter wakes up and sees us here—"

"No, you're right," Lena interrupted. "I just figured that after you fell asleep on me last night…"

"I didn't mean to," Stef defended in an apologetic tone. "I'm so sorry. I think it was the wine because I don't remember finishing the movie at all… Andddd, you know, you should have woken me up the second my eyes shut," Stef's challenged playfully.

Lena made a fake surprised expression, "So it's my fault you passed out on my couch the second that I suggested we go to my room for some more privacy?"

"Yes, it is," Stef's tone remained stern even though she was trying hard not to laugh. And then she realized what Lena had said, "No, I didn't!" she tried to defend.

"Yes, you did…"

"No, I'm pretty sure I would've jolted right up," Stef tried to reason.

Lena shrugged her shoulders, "I guess you'll never know… And since you were so rude to me last night, then I guess you'll be the one who tries to make it up to me."

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><p>"Right now?" Stef asked in a flirtatious voice as she put her hand on Lena's shoulder.<p>

"Yup," Lena smiled before she brought herself even closer to Stef. "You'll be the one to make breakfast," she informed the woman.

Stef's mouth dropped open as she stared at her girlfriend. "Punishment? Really?" she questioned.

"Uhuh," Lena nodded.

"Sweetheart, I can't cook for the life of me… If I'm in charge of breakfast, then IHOP it is," the blonde finished with a nod.

"No, no, no," Lena shook her head. "You're cooking. I think I need to see what I'm dealing with here. I'm sure you're not just a narcoleptic alcoholic," she teased.

"No, I'm not," Stef confirmed. "I'm a narcoleptic alcoholic that sucks at cooking… and children too apparently," the woman answered with a smart-alecky attitude, causing Lena to laugh.

"Maybe you'll even get rewarded if you do a good job," Lena attempted to give her some incentive.

Stef raised her eyebrows, "Like?"

"You'll have to wait and see," the brunette smirked. "…But first you have to change your attitude." Stef looked back at her in confusion. "You don't suck at children," Lena threatened. "Callie will come around…"

Stef chuckled, "Well, I really hope so."

"Hey… Do you know what might make her come around sooner?"

"Besides me disappearing? Nope, not at all," Stef tried to joke but Lena obviously didn't think it was very funny. "I'm sorry. What were you going to suggest, babe?"

"Blueberry pancakes," Lena answered with a smile. "I'm sure you can handle that…" Lena said intuitively, which made Stef feel like she had no other choice.

"You just want to see what kind of disaster I can come up with so you can tease me later," Stef told her.

"No, I just want to sleep-in a little more, and I'm not really in the mood to leave the house," Lena answered honestly.

Stef laughed and nodded, "Okay. Stef's Not-So-Famous Burnt Blueberry Pancakes coming right up," she said as she started to get up from the couch.

"Stef?"

"Yes, my love."

Lena made a nervous face, "You may need to pick up some eggs on your way to the kitchen… and some blueberries..." the brunette confessed.

Stef sighed, "Sure," she nodded. "Maybe I'll stop at diner and pickup the pancakes too."

"Stef," Lena complained.

"I'm kidding," the blonde answered before she bent over to kiss her girlfriend on the cheek. "You better sleep," she threatened. "…Making me make blueberry pancakes when I already told her I don't cook," she mumbled in a childish-like voice before she grabbed her car keys and left.

* * *

><p>Callie had become irritable when she realized that the blonde woman her mother had invited over for dinner wasn't going to leave right after. Lena brought the girl's food to her bedroom when Callie refused to come out and eat with the two of them.<p>

And out of spite, the girl let her food go untouched and took a quick bath right before going to bed.

She couldn't stand listening to the two of them, or listening to Stef's voice at all. To her, it was worse than listening to nails screeching against a chalkboard and she had to cover her head with a pillow to drown out both of their voices. And she was just as mad at her mother for bringing her over their apartment and entertaining her for hours. _She should have ate and then left. Not eat, talk loudly for hours afterwards and watch a movie._ It didn't matter that Lena had invited her to watch the movie with them. She wanted nothing to do with that woman and she felt uncomfortable even leaving her room while she was there.

Callie ended up waiting so long that she had accidentally fallen asleep. But the fact that she had woken up in her own bedroom was enough to remind her of the events that took place the night before. _She should have come to get me_, Callie thought to herself, which already put her in a bad mood.

Ever since her mother had broken up with Linda, Lena had allowed Callie to sleep in her room with her.

_Why didn't she come and get me?_ she kept repeating in her mind as she lifted herself off of the bed to make her way to her mother's room. She was angry with her mom so she probably would have refused to stay with her last night. But in her eyes, Lena should have _at least_ offered.

The first thing Callie noticed when she walked into her mother's bedroom was that she wasn't even there. Immediately the five year old ran towards the living room and saw her mother curled up on the couch with a navy blue fleece blanket that was lying over her. Her first instinct was to jump onto the couch and curl up next to her, but the sound of plastic bags moving around in the kitchen was enough to keep her from doing so.

* * *

><p>Stef had begun to remove the boxed blueberry pancake-mix from the bag and the bacon along with the eggs. She had no clue how to make pancakes so she cheated and bought the pre-mixed box that only required her to add water. She hoped that neither Lena nor Callie would be able to tell the difference.<p>

"Why are you here?" she heard a child's voice and Stef immediately sprung her head up to see the small girl giving her the deathliest stare.

"Uh, Lena?" she tried to call.

"Don't you have a home?" Callie spat, as she looked the blonde up and down and kept her mouth pursed, so that Stef would know she wasn't happy about her presence.

"Yes, I do," the woman defended. "I was just—"

"You should go dere," Callie informed her before she turned her attention away from the confused-looking blonde and began walking back over toward the living room. Once close enough, the five-year-old started to shake her mother awake.

Lena jumped up when she felt someone's strong shakes, "What? What?" she asked as she tried to wake herself up.

"What is she doing here?!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

><p>"What is she doing here?!" Callie snapped as she stared at her mother through beady eyes, the turned them back toward Stef, and then back to her mother.<p>

By the time Lena's vision cleared up, she looked up at her daughter who had her arms crossed and even _she_ couldn't recognize a moment when Callie had ever stared at her like this. It was as if she were daring Lena to answer the question and admit that what she did was wrong.

The woman sighed, "Callie, Stef fell asleep here last night. And she's making us all breakfast."

"I don't want her nasty breakfast. N she never sleeps here. She has a home. She needs to go cook over dere!"

"Callie!" Lena shouted in order to get the girl to calm down. "Watch who you're talking to," she warned.

"I don't want her sleepin here," the girl voiced harshly.

"Alright, that's enough," Lena started to get up and began to push the girl back towards her room, "Stay in your room if you're not going to behave. You don't get to talk to me like that or tell me what to do. I'm the adult. And I'll be there in a few minutes so that we can settle this. Now go," she pointed toward her bedroom door and watched as the little girl angrily stomped away, slamming the door shut afterwards.

Lena closed her eyes after listening to the bang and tried to meditate in her mind for a second before walking over towards the kitchen. "Stef, I'm sorry."

"No," the blonde shook her head, "It's fine… You see? Even she knew that this breakfast was going to suck, right?" Stef tried to joke but her voice cracked a little as she threw the pancake mix back into the bag.

"It's not fine. I just… I've never seen her like that, Stef. She's a good kid. I swear."

"Okay," Stef said unconvincingly with a small smile, as she walked over and grabbed her car keys from the coffee table.

"Where are you going?" Lena furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'm…" she sighed, "Sweetheart, your daughter hates me."

"Please don't tell me we're about to have this conversation all over again," the brunette complained. Stef took another deep breath as she stared at Lena in defeat. "… Don't tell me you're going to let her get to you."

"She's not getting to me. I just… I don't want to get in between all of this so soon."

"I thought this was what you wanted, Stef. _You said_ you were ready to meet her. And we've been dating for months already… What now you feel like I'm forcing you into something you don't want?"

"No, that's not it."

"Then, what is it?"

"Maybe she's right. Maybe I did overstep my boundaries when I slept here last night."

"All we did was sleep," Lena reminded her. "And I forced you to stay. It wasn't your choice… Did she say something to you before I woke up?"

"Nothing that she hadn't already said to you," Stef chuckled. "Gotta hand it to her though. She's tough."

"Well, that's not the kind of tough I want her to be… Callie's actually very loving once you get to know her… But maybe you're right. I have a feeling that breakfast isn't going to turn out so well if we have it right now," Lena sighed. "Rain check?" she asked nervously.

"You got it," the blonde answered as she leaned in to give her girlfriend a kiss.

"She still hasn't scared you off?"

"Me? Never," Stef huffed. "I have too much to lose. I never lose," Stef responded as she tried to lean in to Lena but the woman backed away.

"Oh that part you can remember," Lena raised her eyebrows.

Stef made a face, "You're never going to let that go. Are you? I said I was sorry."

"Well, saying it is one thing. I want you to show me you're sorry," Lena asserted.

"That I can do," the blonde confirmed. "How does tonight sound?"

"Sounds perfect. I'll have to see if my mom can watch Callie first."

"Deal," Stef nodded. "Love you."

"Love you," Lena said as she finally pulled back into Stef's kiss.

* * *

><p>A minute after Stef left, Lena was finally able to wipe the smile off of her face. <em>What am I going to do with that girl?<em> she thought to herself as she began walking over to Callie's room. And immediately after she turned the knob and pushed it open she saw all of Callie's notebooks and textbooks lying open on the floor. When her eyes moved upwards, Callie was throwing her coloring books inside of her backpack and had the house phone held up to her ear. "Okay, bye Grams," she finished before she hung up and stared at her mom in a petrified state. But she still turned her attention away from Lena and walked over toward her dresser and opened one of the drawers.

"Callie, why were you just talking to grams? Did she call you?" Lena questioned out of both curiosity and anger.

But Callie didn't answer her mother's question right away as she pulled out her favorite purple long-sleeved shirt with small Hello Kitty's all over it. She crumpled it in a ball and threw it in her backpack.

Lena squinted her eyes at the girl, "Callie, what are you doing?"

"…I'm goin to Grams house. She said she's comin to pick me up now."

Lena mouth hung open a little as she thought about what her daughter was saying. Not only did she not like the fact that her child thought she could leave whenever she was angry with her, but she also she didn't like the idea of her mother saying that it was okay. "Okay… Honey, you're not going anywhere and I'm g—"

"I'm not your Honey," Callie snapped. "And I'm goin to Grams."

"No you are not!" Lena yelled back out of frustration. "And you aren't going to call Grams again when you are like this. I'm going to call her myself and have a talk with her about the way you've been acting."

"I. Don't. Wanna. Be. Here," she voiced sternly.

"Well, you live here so I guess that's too bad," Lena shrugged her shoulders as she grabbed the house phone from Callie's bed.

"No. You can let Stef move in N I can move in wit Granma n Granpa. I wanna stay dere," Callie responded as her eyes began to well up while she stared at her mother.

Lena took a deep breath at Callie's mention of Stef. _Did she really think that I would choose a woman over her?_ she wondered. "Callie," she started but the girl quickly interrupted her.

"I HATE YOU!" she cried as she ran out of the room passed Lena and toward the bathroom door, slamming it shut right behind her.

Lena froze in place after hearing Callie's words. She had never imagined that three small words from a five-year-old girl could cause for so many emotions to come over her at once.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Stef walked outside and made her way over toward her car, not having a clue why she was feeling so sick. Of course had a few drinks the night before but she hadn't felt so nauseous the next morning after a night of drinking since she was in her early twenties. And she'd never thrown up after drinking a few glasses of wine the night before. That only happened when she drank hard liquor if it ever did. But that didn't stop her from having to open her car door and throw up on the sidewalk.

After she was done, she lifted herself back into her car and though about how disgusting that was and how embarrassing it might have been if she hadn't left Lena's house when she did. She shook her head when she thought about what Callie's reaction might have been. From Stef's point of view it would have been anywhere between _Ew! You should go do dat in your own house_ or _Dat's nasty. You ruined the floor!_ Either way, she was thankful that no one was there to witness it.

The blonde turned on the ignition of her car and kept herself from putting it in drive when she heard her cellphone begin to ring. Automatically assuming that it was either Lena or her mother, she reached inside of her leather jacket and pulled it out.

It was Mike.

_What the hell is wrong with him?_ she thought to herself. She asked him to stop calling her for a while.

She picked up the phone regardless, because she knew that she would have to answer it sooner or later, "Yes, Mike," she answered groggily.

"Hey, Stef. You sound horrible," he mentioned honestly.

"Why thank you," she continued in a sarcastic voice. "What's up? What do you want?"

"…Okay, look I know you said not to call you for anything, right? But I'm… sort of in a bit of a pickle and—"

"How is that my problem?" the blonde continued.

"You don't have to be like that, Stef. I get it. You're a lesbian. The whole squad gets it. I'm the laughing stock just because of it—"

"Spit it out, Mike," Stef rushed him, as she began to feel nauseous again and just wanted to hang up the phone already if she was going to have to listen to him complain some more.

"I need a favor."

Stef breathed loudly into the phone.

"It's the least you can do, Stef. Tim and the guys dropped me off at a gay bar last night and told me to go find another wife…"

Stef shook her head and tried to hide the fact that she felt bad for him, "What is it that you want?"

"Dinner with my parents. One evening, that's it."

"What?" Stef asked as she made a face.

"I couldn't tell them. I wanted to but then I backed out. Come on, you know how they are, Stef. They'll just tell me that the one thing that they were proud of me for was all a lie. You know that they put Richie on a freakin pedestal and I can't handle listening to my father tell me how stupid I was for falling in love with a…"

"A lesbian?" she finished for him, wanting nothing more than to strangle the guy on the other line.

"Stef, I'm begging you. Please. One stupid dinner and you don't ever have to see me again if you don't want to."

"Ever again?" Stef asked in surprise. The truth was that as mad as she was at him for calling her, she did still care about him. She didn't want his family to feel ashamed of him, like her own father felt about her after she told him that she left Mike for Lena. He was still ignoring her calls.

"Don't sound so happy about it, Stef," he joked.

She smiled on the other line, "Fine, Mike. On one condition."

"What?"

"Those divorce papers, you know, the papers that I've had delivered to you that have been sitting on your dining room table _unopened_ for the past month and a half… Yeah, I want them signed."

"What? Stef, no I—"

"Alright, forget it," Stef said abruptly before he got a chance to finish.

"Fine," he answered just as fast. "I'll sign them. Alright? I've already told you that I would—"

"Today," Stef said sternly.

"Alright. Today. You win… Look, just be ready by 5, okay? I'll swing by your place and pick you up."

"Wait a minute," Stef stopped him. "No, I can't do today. I already made plans with Lena."

"Well my family's leaving back to Jersey tomorrow so it has to be today," Mike informed her.

Stef sighed as she realized what a horrible situation she was being put into. But still she said, "Fine," when she realized that Lena would probably appreciate the finalized divorce more than a night that they can have tomorrow.

* * *

><p>After just a couple of minutes, Lena was finally able to wipe the tears from her eyes and pull herself together enough to walk over towards the bathroom. Already assuming that her daughter had locked it, she took a deep breath and knocked softly on the door, "Callie? Honey?" she cooed. And at that moment she heard the shower turn on. It was obvious to her what the girl was trying to do.<p>

And out of hope, she reached for the doorknob and twisted it. She couldn't help but be surprised that Callie hadn't bothered to lock it, but then she assumed it was because she didn't want to get yelled at again after last night.

When she pulled the door open all the way, she noticed Callie sitting on the bathroom floor against the bathtub with her eyes clenched tightly and both of her hands covering her ears. She had never seen her daughter like this. And just the sight frightened the woman and provoked her to drop to the floor and lean against the tub next to her daughter. Lena immediately removed the girl's hands from her ears, realizing that Callie kept her arms tense but not tense enough.

The little girl tried to look away from her mother but Lena wrapped her arms around her daughter instead, reminding her through touch that she couldn't be avoided. And at first she felt Callie attempt to push her away, which did hurt Lena. But the little girl eventually gave up and allowed her mother to caress her. She placed Callie's head on her chest and played with her hair as she spoke, "Baby, I'm sorry okay? I don't want you to think that I would choose anyone over you."

"You already did," Callie responded as she cried into her shirt.

"No baby. I didn't."

"You didn't come n get me," she cried even louder. "Why didn't you come n get me?" she asked as she looked up at her mom's eyes for the first time, and Lena could see her daughter's tear-stricken face.

"When? Last night?" Lena asked and watched as her daughter nod in response. "My baby," she continued as she gave Callie a few consecutive kisses on her forehead, "I didn't realize that you would be so upset."

"But I w-waited for y-you," the girl continued as she took deep breaths and struggled to speak. "When Linda leave-ded you knew dat I sleep-ted wit you."

"I did know that," Lena confirmed. "And I'm sorry you waited for me," she answered honestly. "…But sweetheart, you know that you can't sleep with me forever, right?"

"But why?" Callie asked in an even sadder tone. "Becuzza Stef?" she continued to frown as if she was about to cry again.

"No," Lena answered. "Not because of Stef. Because you're getting to be a big girl. And big girls have to learn to sleep in their own bed. That's why you have one, baby."

"You have a bigger girl bed too… for me," Callie nodded as if that settled everything.

Lena couldn't help but smile at her and then she thought of another idea, "I'll tell you what?"

* * *

><p>"What?" Callie wiped away her tears and her mother helped her wipe them too.<p>

"You and I can get up from this disgusting floor."

"Uh-huh."

"You can help me make some breakfast, and then…."

"Yeah?"

"We can go to the store."

Callie face immediately fell the second she heard the word _store_.

"Not just any store," Lena confirmed, "The _bed store_." The girl looked at her mother in confusion, causing Lena to chuckle before continuing. "There, we can get you a bigger bed."

"Like yours?"

"Okay, Callie. You're going a bit overboard," Lena admitted. "We can get a new bed that's much bigger than yours, and you can even pick out princess sheets."

"Wit Ariel?" Callie questioned.

"Okaaayy," Lena gave in. "But you know what you have to do if we get the bed, huh?"

"We have to sleep in it."

"No, _you_ have to sleep in it."

"You can sleep in it— too?"

"I think you're missing the point, honey," Lena said worriedly. "The big bed is so that you can get used to sleeping in your room by yourself."

"N Stef is gonna stay in your room?" Callie voiced with panic in her eyes.

"No," Lena shook her head. "Not unless that's what you want."

"Dat's not what I want," Callie answered honestly.

"Alright," Lena gave in. "She won't sleep here. If…"

Callie sighed.

"If you give her a chance."

The little girl shook her head, "No, mommy. I can't."

"Why not?" Lena tried to remain calm and gentle.

"Because I don't like her."

"Because of her hair?"

"No."

"Because of her coloring?"

"…No," Callie confessed.

"Then why?"

Callie shook her head with resistance not wanting to even answer her mother. It didn't make any sense to her why her mom would even need someone like Stef around in the first place.

"Callie, you know that Stef can never take your place right? And she doesn't want to either… You are my little miracle baby and you'll always be number _one_ in my life. Whether Stef is here or not… You do know that right?"

Callie wanted nothing more to believe her mom and she knew that part of her did. But she couldn't just shake away the hatred she already had towards the woman for some reason. "But why do you need her if you got me?"

Lena sighed and tried to wipe her own tear that had fallen down onto her cheek. She had no idea how to explain this to her daughter and never thought that she'd ever have to. It didn't help that Callie was making a good point for a five year old either and she was really getting to her. "You are the _most important_, sweetie. And you're right, _I need you_. I don't _need_ her. But I want her. I love Stef. _Almost_ as much as I love you. She makes me happy just like you make me happy."

"Like Linda?" Callie questioned.

"More than Linda," Lena confirmed with a smile.

"I want you to be happy," Callie agreed.

"So…Do you think you'll be willing to give her another chance?" Lena asked with apparent worry in her voice, not wanting to push her luck but so desperately seeking Callie's approval of Stef.

"She's not gonna sleep over here no more?" Callie repeated.

"No," Lena shook her head. "Not if you don't want her to."

"Okay," Callie nodded as she kissed her mom's forehead. "If you stop crying, she can be your girlfriend." Lena smiled at her daughter as she stood up to walk away, "But I still don't really like her," the girl mumbled as she left the bathroom causing Lena to make a confused face, wondering exactly what that meant now.

* * *

><p>Callie was sitting at the table, eating scrambled eggs with sausage, when both her and Lena heard the doorbell. And just as the little girl's eyes lit up and she dropped her fork to run toward the door, she heard her mother's stern voice, "Callie, don't move," she warned as she pointed her index finger at her.<p>

"But it's granma," the little girl complained.

"I don't care," her mom answered. "I will talk to her first, okay. So eat your breakfast, please."

Callie took a deep breath and shoved a piece of sausage in her mouth and gave her mother a look that showed she was far from pleased.

Lena ignored it for now, knowing that she was going to have to have a talk with her mother that she was dreading. She continued to walk over and open the door halfway, so that they could talk outside first. But her mother had other plans and just pushed the door all the way open when she saw Lena's face.

"Where's my grandbaby?" she questioned as she glanced around the room. Lena rolled her eyes and Callie immediately dropped the fork down and ran over toward her grandmother.

"Grams!" she yelled with excitement and the biggest smile on her face.

"There she is," Dana said as she picked her granddaughter up from the floor and wrapped her arms around her. "I missed you so much," she continued as she squeezed onto her.

"Me too," the little girl answered with a giggle when Dana tickled her and put her back down.

"Alright, pumpkin. Go get your things."

"Mom," Lena shook her head.

"What?" Dana asked.

"Callie's not going with you right now," she replied nervously.

"Go get your things," Dana nodded and ignored her daughter's implication.

Callie looked at the two of them in confusion as she considered which one to listen to.

"Callie, please go to your room for a minute. Grams and I need to have a talk."

Dana sighed as she watched Callie slowly and reluctantly walk off, "Lena, don't make this any more difficult than it has to be."

"No, mom. Callie is _my_ daughter. I say where she goes and when she goes. _Not you_. You don't get to pick her up and save her, or whatever it is you think you're doing, every time she gets in trouble."

"Callie may be _your daughter_, Lena, but _you're_ making a lot of irresponsible decisions and that little girl shouldn't have to suffer because of it."

"Oh my god," Lena mumbled as she shook her head and looked away from her mother before she spoke again.

"_You_ let _some_ woman who Callie just met _sleep over last night_?"

"I don't see how that's any of _your_ business," Lena retorted. "What I do and who—"

"It's my business if _my_ grandbaby is calling me crying, and obviously upset because she thinks you don't want her anymore. _You_ said that _you_ could handle being a parent, Lena, and from the looks of things…"

"From the looks of things? What is that supposed to mean?" Lena crossed her arms over her chest.

"It means you can't afford to be irresponsible when you have children. They come first—"

"I know that—"

"Not some _bimbo_ you just met."

"Stef is not a bimbo!" Lena raised her voice. "And she _only_ slept here last night because she had a few drinks and I didn't want her driving home. But I shouldn't even have to explain myself to you!"

"So you're dating an alcoholic? Oh, how lovely," Dana maintained her sarcasm.

"She is _not_ an alcoholic."

"Lena, you are _not_ bringing that nonsense around that little girl. You want to make those mistakes? You're an adult, so make them somewhere else. But that little girl deserves better than what you are giving her, and I, for one, will not stand for it," Dana threatened. "Callie! Let's go!" she yelled.

"Callie! Stay in the room!" Lena yelled even louder. "You do _not_ get to tell me what I can and can't do anymore, mom. And you do _not_ get to tell me how to raise my own kid. Stef is _not_ an alcoholic. And Callie is _not_ your child. So you can leave now, just as you came, alone," Lena voiced in a louder and angrier tone than she had ever used with her mother before.

Dana stared at Lena for a short while before shaking her head and walking out. And before Lena could stop it, she pushed the door hard and allowed it to slam right behind her mother's exit.

"No slamming doors!" Callie yelled as she ran from her room to the living room and looked at her mother, who had the most confusing look on her face to Callie. She looked angry, confused and sad all at once.

"I didn't slam the door, baby," Lena tried to answer. "I think you're hearing things," she replied, and she realized that she given her daughter the same excuse that Callie had given her yesterday. She sighed before gently pushing Callie toward the table again, "Finish your breakfast, please?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Mommy, where did granma go?" Callie questioned her mother as she took a seat on a chair.

Lena sighed as she stared at her daughter. She knew that it wasn't really Callie's fault that they argued but she couldn't help but be agitated at that moment. "Grandma went home."

"N why were you fightin' wit her?" she asked as she grabbed the cup of orange juice and placed it up to her lips.

"We weren't fighting, sweetie," Lena tried to smile. _How could she teach Callie that it wasn't right to yell at her if she was yelling at her own mother?_ she thought to herself.

"You were screaming," the little girl made an observation.

"No, grams and I were just speaking loudly. We weren't screaming at each other."

"Oh," the girl answered flatly. "But why did she leave wit out saying goodbye to me," Callie asked innocently.

Lena immediately felt bad for impulsively kicking her mother out. "I just…" she started but had to stop and take a deep breath before continuing, "Mommy asked her to leave because…well, problems in this house have to stay in this house, Callie. You are not allowed to call grams every time you get upset with me. That's not going to solve anything."

Callie sighed and tried to take in what her mother was saying but she couldn't help the fear that overcame her either. "Is she ever comin back?" the little girl asked worriedly.

"Of course, sweetheart," Lena said as she walked over and sat across from her daughter. "Why would you even say that?"

Callie shook her head and shoved another piece of sausage in her mouth, letting her mother know that their conversation was over. She didn't want to bring up Linda leaving because she knew that her mom would get upset. She'd seen her mother cry enough for a while until she got over it.

But Callie couldn't bare the thought of losing her grandmother the same way she lost Linda, by an loud argument and Linda walking out the door and never coming back. And if it were her fault again, she would never forgive herself.

"Mommy, are we goin to da store now?" Callie asked as she stared down at her plate.

Lena smiled when she assumed that her daughter had forgotten about her grandmother leaving, "Of course, baby. Let me just get ready, okay? And you have to change out of your jammies, so hurry up and eat," she warned playfully.

* * *

><p>Callie nodded as she watched Lena walk toward the room. She immediately opened her mouth and dropped the food that she had been chewing back onto her plate before running toward the garbage and emptying the food from it. "Finished," she whispered to herself as she dropped the plate on the counter and ran toward the room to change.<p>

Lena unlocked her cellphone to text Stef: **So sorry. Can't make it. My mom can't watch Callie today. Rain check on the rain check? **

She felt bad the second after shesent it. Ever since Stef met Callie yesterday, Lena could tell that her girlfriend didn't feel like she was good enough for her daughter. But Lena didn't want to make it sound as if she wasn't interested in Stef anymore because of that.

A few seconds later she received a response: **Gotcha. No problem. I understand :)**

Lena let out a deep breath since she was happy just to get a reply back: **Tomorrow afternoon then? I'll bring Callie. I think she's willing to give you another chance.** Lena made a face when she sent the text, hoping that Stef wouldn't back out at the mention of her daughter.

**Stef: Should I dye my hair black? **

Lena shook her head and smiled when she read the message: **Don't forget to dress up like Ariel too :P**

**Stef: Seriously?**

**Lena: No. Not seriously.**

* * *

><p>Mike clapped his hands once, "Alright ma, I don't think I have to show you where anything is. The bathroom is over there. Dad, you know which room it is right?"<p>

Mike's dad waved his son off in annoyance. "Always gotta be the smart one, ay?"

"No, not always," Stef said as she tried to smile at them while at the same time show her anger toward Mike. "Have a good night," she told both of his parents as they smiled back and told her the same before they went to the spare room.

Stef waited until they closed the door before she turned around to look at Mike. Instantly, she crossed her arms over her chest. "What the hell is wrong with you, Mike?"

"What did you expect me to do? Tell them to sleep at the motel?"

"Yes," Stef replied in a firm tone. "You better not think I'm sleeping here," the blonde warned.

"Stef, they're going to think something is up if you just leave after dinner and don't come back."

"And that's not really my problem, Mike. Is it?"

"Where else do you have to be?" he asked sarcastically.

Stef widened her eyes at her ex.

"Look, that's not what I meant. I just opened my mouth without thinking just like I did at dinner."

"Clearly," Stef maintained her attitude.

"All I'm asking is for one night."

"NO, MIKE!"

Mike panicked, "Stef, please keep your voice down. They are going to hear you."

"I don't—"

"You said that you wanted to help me out, right?" Mike interrupted. "Well this is helping me out."

Stef continued to shake her head with resistance.

"You can have the bed. I can sleep on the floor. You can even talk about what an asshole I am the entire time if it makes you feel better. But please…please do not ruin this for me right now. By 9am they're going to be gone and all you have to do is say bye and go home. I'm begging you to just… please, Stef."

Stef wanted to say no so bad to him but couldn't stand the thought of having to listen to Mike continue begging. He didn't ask for this. He wouldn't even be put in this position if it weren't for her.

"Fine," Stef concluded. "Just stop saying please," she informed him. "You sound like a child… And I'm not sleeping in your bed," she answered in disgust. "Throw a bunch of comforters on the floor," she instructed. "And don't be surprised if I take you up on that other offer because you are an ass."

"Okay," Mike nodded and tried to hide his smile


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

* * *

><p>Stef sat on the edge of the bathtub just staring at the pregnancy test in her hands.<p>

_It wasn't supposed to have this result_, she kept repeating to herself.

It was only supposed to shut out the voice in the back of her mind. The voice that kept telling her it _was_ a possibility. Not enforce the thought even more. Strangely, the idea of being pregnant didn't even cross her mind until now. She had always gone months without getting her period ever since she started birth control when her and I Mike first started dating. And ever since then, she hadn't thrown up or shown any other signs up until yesterday. But then again, she hadn't really known about much of the signs expect for the nausea and the bigger boobs part.

She tried to think back to the last time she had sex with Mike. It must've been about three months ago since then and just a few days before she met Lena.

_How was she going to explain this to her and not sound like she cheated_? The thought of Lena thinking that she cheated just made her feel all the more worse.

_She couldn't tell her._

_She couldn't be pregnant._

_Not now._

* * *

><p>"Mommy, do we havta go see Stef?" Callie moaned, as she sat on the floor and put on her white-flowered flip flops to match her yellow sundress.<p>

Lena sighed, "Yes, we do, baby. And you promised to behave too, remember?"

Callie _didn't_ remember so she just stared at her mother blankly.

"Well you did," Lena continued in a firmer tone. "And Mommy would really like it if you kept your promise... That means _no_ talking about Linda, _no_ yelling at me or Stef because you're angry and _no_ calling grandma."

Callie sighed.

"You got very lucky that you didn't get in trouble for the way you treated me because it was the _first_ time, Callie. But you should know better now, and I expect you to behave better than the way you acted yesterday, okay?"

"Ohhkaay," Callie mumbled as she jumped up from the floor and ran to grab her small monkey backpack from the sofa. "You can leave me at granma's too you know?" the little girl said as if it were a peace offering. "Granma and granpa can take me to the park."

Lena smiled, "Thank you, Callie. But I would rather you go with Stef and me. Is that okay?" she asked as if it were a counteroffer but both of them knew that it wasn't.

"Uhuh," Callie mumbled miserably before her eyes lit up, "Can Molly come?"

"Sure. Why don't you go get her," Lena answered softly. If taking her toddler doll was enough to keep Callie comfortable then her mother wasn't going to say no.

* * *

><p>"Mommy, I don't dink she's comin," the little girl mumbled as she tried to feed a chip to Molly and watched as it just fell onto the blanket that they were all laying on.<p>

"No, sweetie. She will be here. She's just a little late. That's all," Lena tried to assure her daughter even though she was beginning to worry too. The last thing she needed was to have Stef not show up when Lena finally got Callie to somewhat cooperate. But they had been waiting at the park for over an hour with no word from Stef.

"Maybe she got loss?" Callie questioned as she picked up the chip that fell onto the blanket and stuffed it in her mouth.

"Yeah, maybe," Lena answered her even though she knew that Stef wouldn't have. They had met in this same park alone a few times and Stef was _always_ on time.

"Linda woulda already be here by now," Callie stated her opinion before she looked up at her mom who was giving her a look. "Sorry, I forgot about da rule," she answered truthfully.

"Hey, honey. I'm sorry I'm late," Stef's voice came from behind them and Lena turned her head around just as Stef kissed her on the cheek.

Lena noticed that it was a habit she picked up since she met Callie. She figured that Stef was either too uncomfortable with kissing her on the lips in front of her daughter or was afraid that Callie wouldn't approve.

Either way, she didn't really like it.

"Hey, Callie," Stef smiled as she sat down on the blanket with them

"Hi," Callie murmured as turned her gaze back toward her doll.

"Yeah, I totally lost track of time."

It was the truth. After she saw the result of the pregnancy test she couldn't move for at least an hour after that. She was still feeling like a zombie until she got the text from Lena a half hour ago asking where she was. "…Then I thought we were meeting at 5 instead of 4 and then—"

"It's okay," Lena assured her. "You're here. That's all the matters."

"We had to wait a lonnnnng time for you," Callie let slip out. "I kilt eight bugs dat got on da blanket since we got here. Thaz a lonnnnggg time."

"Callie," Lena tried to get the girl's attention to give her a warning look.

Callie looked away from her mother and toward the swing instead since she knew what to expect.

"I know. I'm really sorry," the blonde continued to apologize and tried to look as sincere as possible. The last thing she wanted to do was upset Lena's daughter even more.

Callie nodded as she dug in her small backpack for her comb and began brushing Molly's hair.

"What's that?" Lena asked as she gestured towards the plastic bag in Stef's hand.

"Oh, it's um," Stef furrowed her eyebrows out of nervousness as she tried to think if it was such a good idea anymore.

Callie began removing her pigtails to tie around Molly's hair.

"Sweetheart, you're ruining your hair," Lena complained when she looked over to her daughter.

"No, I'm not," Callie answered matter-of-factly. "I havta fix Molly's hair too, Mommy."

"By messing up your own?" Lena asked as she grabbed the comb and began brushing Callie's hair down so it wouldn't look so bad.

Stef smiled as she watched the two of them. Callie working on her doll's hair and Lena working on hers was definitely a Kodak moment. But she didn't think Callie would like it if Stef just snapped a picture of them.

"What?" Lena asked with a smile when she looked up from Callie's hair to see Stef's face.

"No, nothing," Stef said as she tried to change her expression so that the little girl didn't think she was laughing at her. "So, Callie. I got you something," she said as she attempted to hand the bag to the little girl.

"You didn't have to, Stef," Lena tried to make clear.

"No," the blonde shook her head. "I wanted to," Stef answered and then realized that Callie wasn't going to accept the bag. In fact, Callie didn't even bother to look up at her mother's girlfriend at all as she spoke.

Stef placed the bag next to the girl on the blanket and watched while Callie finished tying the other hair tie around the doll's hair.

The girl whipped her body around, "Look, mommy. I did Molly's hair," she says enthusiastically as she brings the doll even closer toward her moms face.

Lena gave Callie a look, "I can see that, sweetie. But Stef brought you something... What do you say?"

Callie looked away from her mother and at Stef, "Thank. You," she mumbled forcefully and began to stand up. "Can I go to da swings?"

"Honey, don't you want to see what Stef brought for you?" Lena asked even though she was silently begging her daughter to just acknowledge the gift.

Callie looked at the bag and she could tell it was a coloring book. Normally, she would be happy and part of her was, but she didn't want to show that part of her. "…Maybe later," she said flatly as she turned her face away from it all. "Can I go to da swings now?"

Lena forced herself to smile even though she knew that Stef's feelings would be hurt. "Go ahead, baby. Don't go anywhere I can't see you alright? Right there," she pointed to the first swing.

* * *

><p>Callie ran off and Lena turned to Stef. "She's <em>really<em> trying, Stef," she tried to defend. Lena knew that this would be difficult for Callie. Her, trying to be polite even though she didn't want to and not yelling at her or Stef, was a _good_ sign. Her, continuing to distance herself from them, however wasn't. Her daughter didn't feel comfortable and she knew that she couldn't force her to be comfortable around Stef.

"No, I can tell," the blonde assured her. "I knew that this would be more difficult then buying a coloring book. I just felt like I had to after…" she sighed. "Baby steps, right?"

"Right," Lena agreed. "So… what did you do yesterday after you left my apartment?"

"Oh, I went to IHOP," Stef joked.

Lena laughed, "No, seriously..."

"I stayed home," the blonde lied. She didn't think Lena would appreciate the sleepover with Mike no matter how innocent it was. "But I do have some good news," she decided to change the subject.

"Yeah?" Lena smiled. "What?"

"Well, Mike finally decided to sign the divorce papers."

"Really?" Lena's smile widened. "Honey, that's great," she said as she hugged her girlfriend. She felt even better now because even though Stef and Mike had been separated for months, this was the only thing keeping her from feeling like a mistress of some sort. Stef had assured her she wasn't one, but the feeling kept eating at her ever since she started dating a married woman.

"I know," Stef smiled back.

Lena released her, "Well, how did you get him to do it? Did he just change his mind?"

"Yeah," Stef nodded, "…After I put my gun to his head."

Lena slapped her leg, "Oh, stop it," she laughed.

"No, he just… I don't know, I guess he just realized it was definitely over between us," the blonde continued as she looked over Lena's shoulder to see Callie who was sitting on the swing and moving both of her feet in different directions, obviously struggling to swing herself. "Sweetheart, I think your daughter is having some difficulty.

Lena turned around to look at what Stef was referring to and chuckled. "Yes, she is. Maybe you should…" Lena gestured toward her.

"Oh, I don't think she would appreciate that," Stef tried to joke but saw that Lena was practically pleading with her eyes. "Okay," she gave in. "But if she sends me back over here, it's on you," Stef warned as she pointed her finger accusingly at her as she stood up.

"I'll accept that," Lena smiled as she watched Stef begin to walk over toward her daughter and the swings.

_Please behave yourself, Callie,_ she thought to herself as she let out a deep breath, having no idea what to expect from her today.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

* * *

><p>Callie stared at Stef as she began walking over to her. <em>What does she want?<em> she asked herself as she held her doll even closer toward her and wrapped her arms around the swing so that she wouldn't drop Molly. Immediately she felt uncomfortable.

"Hey," Stef started with a smile. "Do you need help there, sweets?" the woman paused for a second when she realized she had just said _sweets_. It was something her own mother had called her when she was a child but she never thought that she'd hear it come out of her own mouth.

"No, I'm okay," Callie mumbled as she got off the swing a little bit and then jumped back on top of it so that she would move a little. Not exactly swinging on your own but it would do for Callie. She didn't want her mom's girlfriend helping her.

Stef nodded her head and wondered what she should do now before she turned her gaze away and noticed Lena watching them from afar. So not only was Callie not participating at all, but now Lena was watching her every move. _It couldn't get any more awkward._

"So…" Stef clapped her hands and Lena had to bite back a chuckle as she watched. "Do you play on the swings a lot?"

Callie was trying her best not to sound too rude to Stef even though she honestly just wanted to tell her to go away at this point. She knew that her mom wouldn't like it. But for a child, rudeness was like a second language to her. "Maybe you… I dink you can go back to Mommy. N she's not here. She's over dere," Callie pointed to Lena as she stared at Stef.

_I knew she was going to try and send me back_, Stef thought to herself yet still tried to maintain a smile as she walked over toward the swing besides Callie and sat on it. "Yes, your mommy is over there but I came over here to talk to _you_. That's why I wanted to come to the park, so that I can get to know _you_ too. I already know _her_," Stef tilted her head. She tried to joke a little so that she could force Callie to smile against her will, but Callie just stared at her blankly and jumped off of the swing and back onto it so that it could start moving again. Stef coughed nervously when she realized that she had no idea how to handle this little girl. "Do you want to learn how to swing really high?" Stef questioned next while she attempted to smile again, "See," she began to instruct, "You move both of your feet out like this," the blonde pushed her feet up, "…and then you—"

"Mommy don't like it when I swing too high. She tol' me I'm goin to get hurt," the small brunette said flatly as she turned to look at her. "You want me to fall?" Callie asked next though she kept her face still rather than angry when she said it.

"No," Stef shook her head, "Not at all," she answered seriously, " I was just—"

"Goin back to Mommy?" Callie continued as she looked away from the woman and toward her own mother who was staring at them both. She wondered if her mom could read her lips and knew what she was saying. If she could, the little girl knew that she'd surely be in trouble.

* * *

><p>Stef accepted the stab that Callie made at her and took a deep breath. She wondered if she should in fact go toward Lena, since her daughter obviously didn't want her anywhere near her.<p>

But then she thought back to what Lena said the first time Callie made her feel like this, _Don't let her walk all over you, because she will and you'll lose._

_Callie wants me to leave so why should I? _

"No, you know what Callie. I like the swings too. I think I'll stay," the blonde answered her as she began moving her feet up and down so that she could swing and tried to keep herself as casual as she could, all the while keeping her eyes focused on Lena.

Callie shook her head slightly from annoyance as she looked down at her doll. _It's just me and you, Molly,_ she said in her head before she brought the doll even closer toward her chest. She wanted so badly to jump off of the swing and run over towards her mom, but for some reason she just couldn't. She didn't want Stef to follow her back there either.

The little girl took a deep breath and tried to keep her attention off of Stef the best that she could. _Maybe if I just ignore her then she would go away_, Callie tried to rationalize. She jumped off of the swing and jumped back on it harder, attempting to move her feet in different directions again but that just made her stop swinging. She sighed and let her eyes roam toward Stef's legs so that she could see exactly how high she was swinging. _How was she doing that?_ the five year old mentally asked herself while she began to study Stef's movements.

And Stef tried her best not to look in Callie's direction, despite the fact that she knew the little girl's eyes were intently focused on her. She knew exactly what Callie was doing and didn't want to discourage her by opening her mouth. And before she knew it, she glanced up when she heard the chains from Callie's swing begin to slowly rock back and forth. She smiled slightly at the thought of having taught a kid something. But still, she kept her eyes focused on the scene around her.

Lena's eyes widened with excitement when she noticed that Callie was swinging all on her own. She babied Callie a lot and always pushed her on the swing from fear that she would fall, if she weren't right next to her the entire time. But Callie wasn't going so high and strangely she felt that Callie was safe with Stef beside her. She smiled when she saw the two of them staring in complete opposite directions at absolutely nothing, apparently trying to avoid eachother.

Immediately afterwards, she reached for her cell to snap a picture of it but noticed Stef's phone was closer since it was already out on the blanket. When she grabbed hold of it and held it up to the air to take a snap shot, she noticed a text was in the way. She didn't want to read it but Mike's name was staring right back at her: **Thank you for staying over last night. I know that you didn't need to help me but I still appreciate it. I owe you one -Mike**

Her face went flat and she could almost feel her heart stop beating midway through the message. And the text just confirmed the fear that she had every since she started dating Stef. She kept reading it over in over again praying that she had misread it the first time… and the second time… but it still said the same thing.

As she stood there frozen she could feel a sudden burst of emotions want to come out of her but something else snapped her out of it.

"Mommy!" Callie screamed in complete terror.

To be continued…


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Lena quickly glanced up at the sound of Callie's scream and noticed that her daughter was still on the swing. Instantly, she dropped Stef's phone onto the blanket and began running over to her.

"MOMMY!" Callie wailed again even louder and Stef could see the fear in her eyes begin to accelerate, causing her to lift herself off of her own swing.

"Callie, what's wrong!" the blonde practically yelled from fear at the sight of the little girl's reddened face and sound of her sudden outburst.

"I CAN'T STOP!" she cried as she kept her eyes focused on the top of the bar that held the chains of the swing. She was becoming afraid of just how high she was going. To her, it was as if the entire swing would flip over at any second and not being able to touch the ground made her breath quicken even more. "MOMMY!" she screamed again as she watched her mom running towards her. But Stef grabbed hold of one of the chains and held her body still so that she could stop the swing from moving without risking the little girl falling off of it.

As soon as the Callie's swing was completely still, Stef kneeled in front of the hysterical child in front of her. "Hey, it's okay now," she tried to soothe. "You're okay," she assured her as she tried to get her attention, but Callie couldn't brush the feeling off right away.

"What happened?!" Lena yelled the second she got there and saw her daughter's emotional state.

Callie wiped her eyes with her hands and dropped her doll on the floor before she ran over to wrap her arms around Lena's waist. "The whole swing was gonna flip over n I can't stop it," she complained as she stared up at her mother's eyes.

Lena sighed with relief when she realized that her daughter hadn't actually gotten hurt though the five year old wasn't sure why her mom didn't think this was just as serious. She _almost died_ in her eyes.

"It's okay, baby. Mommy's here," Lena said in a soft voice as she lifted her daughter's chin up and took another deep breath before she looked up at Stef. And at this moment, Stef seemed to be in just as much of a shock as Callie was.

The blonde pushed her hair back with her hand before she shook her head at her girlfriend, "Lena, I'm so sorry. I didn't think that…I didn't expect _that_ to happen."

"It's fine," Lena assured her. "It wasn't your fault."

"No, it's not fine, Mommy," Callie complained and Lena looked down and could still see tears forming in her eyes.

Lena sighed, "You're right, sweetheart. It's not," she informed her and brought her closer toward her own body to make her daughter feel safe again. Suddenly, the woman's ears perked up at the sudden sound of the ice cream truck and she knew that Callie must've heard it too since she wasn't holding on as tightly as she first had. _Thank God,_ Lena thought to herself when she noticed the white truck approaching. "Do you think a snow cone might help?" she suggested, knowing very well that ice cream would immediately distract her daughter from what had just happened.

"Yeah," Callie nodded as she stared at the truck approaching with pure admiration in her eyes.

"Okay," Lena smiled. "Go run and get my wallet from my purse over there," she pointed toward the blanket that she had just gotten up from and watched as Callie ran over toward it.

* * *

><p>"She scared the crap out of me," the blonde said truthfully.<p>

"Me too," Lena nodded, while completely avoiding making eye contact with Stef. She was so mad that she could barely even look at her.

Stef noticed her girlfriend's sudden change in behavior and still felt like she blamed her, "Okay, what's wrong?" she questioned. "I told you that I didn't mean for that to happen."

"This isn't about Callie," Lena informed her as she shook her head. It was like Stef was lying to her with every second that she kept speaking to her and every second that she stood in front of her.

"You're upset, honey. I can tell…" the blonde made an observation. Lena remained silent while she stared at her daughter who had just begun to unzip her purse from afar. "…You know, if you don't tell me what I did wrong then I'm just going to keep drowning here…" Stef stared at Lena with sincere eyes until her girlfriend finally felt the courage to look back at her.

"Why don't you ask Mike?" she retorted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Mike?" Stef squinted her eyes in confusion.

"Yes, Mike... Or did you already forget about whose bed you slept in last night?" Lena asked sarcastically while she kept her eyes steady to stare at the blonde.

Stef froze after hearing the last of Lena's words. Her reaction was just proof that it was true now.

"I can't _believe_ I was so stupid," Lena smiled at how ridiculous and wrong she had been this whole time. She shook her head before looking at Stef again, "I brought you into _my daughter's life,_ Stef," she replied in a much angrier tone. "I don't just do that with anyone."

Stef could feel her own heart sink as she listened to Lena's words. She couldn't believe that this was really happening. She couldn't even understand how her girlfriend even found out about this. "Honey," she croaked as she wrapped her hand around Lena's arm out of a panicked reaction when she realized that she was about to walk away from her. "Please let me explain," she begged.

"There's nothing to explain, Stef. I _trusted_ you and you _cheated_."

"No," Stef shook her head again. "I didn't cheat."

"You didn't sleep over Mike's house last night?" Lena challenged her. It was as if she was daring Stef to lie after all of that.

"Well yes, I did. But we didn't do anyth—"

"Save it," Lena snapped as she removed her own arm from Stef's grasp before putting her hand up so that her girlfriend would realize that explaining wouldn't do her any good. "I told you that this _was not_ what I wanted. You _promised_ me that it was over between you two and I believed you."

"It is," Stef voiced sternly. "Love, listen to me," she begged.

Lena turned her attention away from Stef when she heard her daughter approaching from behind, "I got da money!" Callie yelled with excitement, completely unaware of the argument going on between the two women.

Lena faked a smile as she looked at her daughter. "Thank you, baby," she said to Callie as she grabbed the wallet from the five year old.

Stef attempted to explain, "Lena, last night was—"

"I'm not doing this in front of my daughter, Stef," Lena warned her in a lower voice yet firm tone.

Stef looked down at Callie and saw her big brown eyes staring up at her in confusion. She nodded before she glanced up at Lena, "Okay. That's—"

"Let's go get your ice cream before the truck leaves, baby," she told the girl and watched as her daughter already began walking towards the truck. "Stef, you should go," Lena instructed the blonde before she began following Callie.

Stef took a deep breath as she stood there by the swings for a few seconds, contemplating on what to do. _Should I leave?_ she debated in her mind as she watched after the two of them. The woman wanted so badly to tell Lena what had actually happened and to confess why she _had_ to sleep over, but Callie being there was forcing her to keep her mouth shut.

So rather than upset her girlfriend even more, she walked over toward the blanket and picked up her jacket and her phone before leaving. She had to respect Lena's wish, despite the strong urge to fight against it.

To be continued…


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

* * *

><p>As soon as Stef walked back over toward the car, she got in and harshly threw her jacket and phone on the passenger's seat before slamming the door shut. She angrily grabbed hold of her seatbelt and pushed the metal hard into it's latch. Letting out a deep breath, she was finally able to turn her head and see Lena leaving the ice cream truck with Callie. For a couple of minutes she watched them as Lena took the plastic off of the snow cone and handed it to her daughter.<p>

Stef knew that she screwed this up big time. And to make matters worse, she wasn't sure how she was going to fix it. Or even if Lena would give her the time of day to explain anymore. And if it were anyone else, she wouldn't let it get to her or even care. But the past three months with Lena had been the best three months she ever had. And now, it was as if that was all it was… just time passed. She wasn't finally going to live the life that she wanted to with the _one person_ that she wanted to live it with. And it was her own fault for not saying anything in the first place.

_How did she find out?_ Stef kept repeating to herself over and over until she realized that the answer was probably staring her right in the face. She turned her head toward the seat next to her and grabbed her phone to check for any missed calls from Mike. And just seconds later, she clicked on the green icon and found the incoming message from him: _Thank you for staying over last night. I know that you didn't need to help me but I still appreciate it. I owe you one_- Mike.

As soon as she finished reading it, she stared back at the phone in disgust when she realized what Lena must've thought it meant.

Damn it Mike, the blonde muttered under her breath before turning around to search for Lena. She noticed that she had already picked up her blanket and was now grabbing her picnic basket to leave. Callie was sucking on her snow cone with her small monkey backpack around her back, while holding the blanket for Lena.

_How was she going to fix this?_

_And how was she going to explain that she didn't cheat last night when she slept over…but is currently a few weeks pregnant with Mike's baby?_

_Would Lena even believe her if she confessed that she just found out about the pregnancy?_

At this point Stef wasn't sure of her options. If Lena were to believe her about not cheating, then she couldn't tell her about the pregnancy. And if she couldn't tell her about the pregnancy, than what other choice did she have.

_And with that thought on her mind, it finally dawned on her… that last solution._

_It was just up to her to figure out which she wanted more._

_Lena._

_Or the fetus she didn't even want in the first place._

She shook her head at the thought not even wanting to go there.

_She couldn't go there. _

_Not just yet._

_Not until she figured out if Lena would actually forgive her._

_And strangely she couldn't even understand why this was a debate at all._

_She loved Lena._

_So why was she holding herself back from making this obvious decision?_

* * *

><p>Callie walked in front of her mother up the steps to the door to their apartment. And it was apparent to her that something had happened. <em>Out of nowhere, Stef left without even saying goodbye. <em>She still wasn't very fond of Stef but she wasn't fond of her mom's silence that she had to endure the entire ride home.

_Her mom was never this quiet. _

Callie ran over toward the couch and grabbed the remote to turn on the tv the second her mother opened the door. She didn't have to even bother changing channel since SpongeBob was already on. The little girl glanced at the screen for a couple of minutes and turned her head around to see that her mom was sitting at the dining room table with her elbows lying on top of it and her hands on her head. She was just staring down and barely even moving.

The five year old had never seen her mother act this strange. She couldn't make out her facial expression because her Lena's hair was purposely covering the edges of her face from where Callie was sitting. The little girl paid close attention to her mother in hopes that she would make any sign of movement that would allow the girl to know that she was okay.

_She didn't._

"Mommy?" Callie asked worriedly in an effort to have her mother respond somehow. _If she was talking, then she surely wasn't crying._

Lena heard her daughter's voice and tried her best to snap out of it. She didn't want to show her five year old that she was _in fact crying_. But sometimes, even she'd forget that Callie was becoming more observant and picking up everyone's moods. The woman wiped away the tears from her eyes with her hands and tried to gather herself.

"Yes, baby?" she asked in a causal tone before she took a deep breath and was able to stare at her daughter in the most casual way she could muster. "What's wrong?"

"Why are you crying?" the five year old asked sincerely.

Lena furrowed her eyebrows and faked a smile, "What? What do you mean? I'm not crying."

Callie stood up from the couch and made her way over toward her mom to get a better look at her face. Lena glanced down at first and then tried to meet her daughter's eyes and appear as fine as she could be. Once the little girl was close enough to reach out and touch her she examined Lena's eyes again for a few more seconds. "You look like you are crying," Callie informed her.

"Well I'm not," Lena chuckled.

The five year old peered at her mother skeptically before she answered, "Den are you mad at me?" she asked in confusion. _Something was wrong with her mother. If she wasn't sad then it was something else._

"What? Why would I be mad at you, honey? You didn't do anything wrong," she shook her head.

"I screamd-ded at da park n Stef went home," Callie felt like she had to remind her.

"She didn't go home because of you, Callie. I told her to go home."

"Why?"

"Because…" Lena wrinkled her forehead as she tried to think of a response.

"Becuzza me?" Callie questioned. She automatically felt responsible even though Lena told her it wasn't her fault. Linda only left when Callie came along, and even she noticed that.

"No, not because of you," the woman tried to assure her. "Because of something else."

Callie just stared at her mother for a while as she waited for her to explain more.

"It doesn't matter why," Lena tried to explain though she could feel own tears wanting so desperately to spill from her eyes no matter how hard she fought them back.

The little girl watched carefully as her mother struggled to keep it together. Lena took in a deep breath, "I already told you that the only person I need is you, remember?"

Callie nodded. "You don't want Stef no more?" she asked for confirmation.

_Do I want Stef? Yes_, Lena answered her own question in her mind.

_Can I ever truly have her? _

_No._

_She wasn't going to share Stef with a man._

_That wasn't love._

"What I want right about now is to watch a movie in bed and take a nap," Lena attempted to change the subject with an avoidant comment as she stood up from the table. "Do you wanna join me?"

Callie nodded as she glanced over toward their movie collection. "Can I pick da movie?"

Lena smiled, "Yes, you may," she answered as she watched her daughter run over toward the living room and begin her lengthy search for the perfect movie to watch.

_I can get through this_, Lena thought to herself. _I have my biggest motivation sitting right in front of me._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

* * *

><p>Stef had called Lena over a dozen times since she left the park. And each time her girlfriend pressed ignore so that she wouldn't have to deal with her anymore.<p>

_She couldn't deal with her_. It was as if Stef was just another person to add on her list of exes that cheated on her.

Gretchen,

Linda,

and now Stef.

It was like Lena had this sign on her back that said: I ONLY DATE CHEATERS and she had some sort of radar that attracted them.

And what pissed Lena off even more is that this woman had the audacity to come into her daughter's life.

At this point, she couldn't be anymore grateful that Callie was so off-putting toward Stef. If she wasn't, she might've actually gotten hurt too in all of this too.

* * *

><p>Stef hated sending text messages more than anything, especially when it came to things as important as this. She always preferred the old fashioned way of calling someone over the phone or going to their house and seeing them in person. But even now as she stood outside of Lena's apartment, she got the feeling that this was a bad idea. She knew there was a chance that she'd wake Callie up if she knocked, which would only most likely piss Lena off even more than she already was. And apparently <em>calling her<em> wasn't working either.

It was still a fat chance, but she sent that text to Lena.

Lena had her arm wrapped around her daughter, when she was awoken by the sudden text tone of her phone. She opened her eyes and could see that Callie was still fast asleep and her light snoring just proved that even more. Sometimes Callie would fake sleeping and watch her mother through squinted eyes, but the little girl had no idea that she snored so could never fake that.

Lena stared at her for a while in an effort to not turn around and grab her phone from her nightstand because she knew exactly whom it was.

_Why couldn't Stef just stop calling? Didn't she see that this couldn't be fixed? What could she possibly have to say that could get me to forgive her?_ Lena thought to herself as she gave in and turned around and reached over for her phone.

**Stef: I'm outside. Can we please talk?**

Lena shook her head and couldn't ignore the sudden rage that came over her at that exact moment. _To think that Stef would seriously show up to her home after all that she had done, and somehow make it all okay with what? An apology?_

She tried to put her phone faced down on the nightstand and rest her head back onto the pillow. Lena even stayed there for a couple of minutes before she let her id take over and sit up from her bed.

Callie stirred slightly and the woman froze from fear that she had woken her daughter up. But thankfully, the five year old just wrapped the blanket around her body even more.

* * *

><p>Stef stood with her back against the wall as she stared at the doorknob of Lena's apartment for what felt like a lifetime since she sent the text. She honestly had no idea what she'd do if this didn't work. Probably show up her job at the school though she knew that wouldn't be the best place to talk about any of this. But if that's what it came down to, she was going to do it.<p>

And when she finally heard the creaking of the door opening, Stef's eyes immediately went back up and noticed Lena staring back at her with a flattened expression. The brunette walked all the way outside into the hallway with her purple robe and white pajama pants on. Stef immediately realized that she had just woken her up by the tired look on her face.

Lena walked all the way out and made sure to close the door behind her just in case Callie was to wake up. She crossed her arms over her chest as she stared back at the blonde, "What do you want, Stef? What is so important that you needed to wake me up in the middle of the night to tell me, huh? Was lying to me once not enough for you, that you had to come back here to just do it again?" Lena didn't want to approach her like this, but all of the hours she spent, attempting to figure out how many signs she must've missed, was enough to throw her on edge.

"Lena, please just give me a chance to explain—"

"Why? So that you can keep lying?" Lena retorted.

"No," Stef shook her head.

"Because I don't understand it, Stef. You knew what I had gone through with Gretchen and with Linda. You knew what they did to me," Lena accusingly. "…Why would you do this to me too?"

"I didn't—"

Lena didn't let her finish. She was too amped up on adrenaline to let Stef get another word out until she was finished. "It's one thing to mess with my feelings and it's a completely different thing to put yourself in _my daughter's life_ and try to do the same to her. She's a _kid_, Stef. Don't you get that?"

"I know," Stef argued.

"What if she actually liked you? Did you not think about what you would be doing to her if you two were to have gotten close? Or what hurting her for my mistake would have done to me?"

"Lena, can we just stop for a second please," Stef begged.

Lena shook her head, "You want to say something. Then say it. Go ahead. Because you're not going to stop calling me and showing up at my doorstep unless you get whatever it is off of your chest, so just do it. Say whatever it is that you think is going to get me to change how I feel about all of this because I can assure you that it won't."

* * *

><p>"Lena, I didn't cheat on you."<p>

Lena fake-laughed. "Oh, this is going to be good," the brunette said sarcastically.

"I didn't," Stef said with even more anger in her voice at the fact that she knew she was telling the truth. "And it kills me that you would think that."

Lena shook her head slightly, "And why should I believe you, huh? Why would you sleep over at Mike's place when _we were_ together?"

Stef could feel her tears burning in her eyes as she listened to her girlfriend's accusations, because she knew there was a chance that after all of this, she wouldn't believe her.

"Because… Lena, because Mike asked me to, okay? He asked me to come to dinner because his parents from New Jersey were coming over. He couldn't tell them that we were separated because they look down on him for every decision he makes. And he asked me to come over just for the dinner so that they wouldn't find out. And in return he told me he'd sign the papers… But that's not even the main reason I went. I still care about him—"

"Obviously," Lena interrupted.

"I don't want to," Stef admitted. "And I don't view him as my husband anymore but I can't just stop caring for someone I have been with ever since high school. I knew that he was in a tough position, so I went to the stupid dinner so that his family wouldn't treat him like crap for _my decision I made to leave him_. And—And I slept over because they were sleeping over, and I didn't want to make anything suspicious by leaving right afterwards, okay? We didn't _do anything_. He didn't try anything. In fact, I made a bed on the floor and left the second that his parents went back to Jersey this morning. _That_ was the favor Mike was referring to in the message. I swear to God, Lena, I don't feel anything romantic for Mike at all. I never did."

"If this is true then why didn't you just tell me? Why lie to me?"

"Why do you think?" Stef asked as she stared at her girlfriend. It was so obvious why she couldn't tell her. "…Look, I already know how you feel about Mike, and you already told me about what Gretchen and Linda had done to you in the past. I didn't want you to ever think that I would ever do something like that too… I know how hard it was for you to trust me enough to bring me into Callie's life and I don't want you to regret that. But I'm not a cheater, Lena," Stef shook her head. "…Yes, I made some bad decisions. Like lying to you about where I was last night and who I was with. And I'm sorry for doing that. But you have to believe that I would never cheat on you."

"Stef," Lena tried to stop her. She wanted to believe her more than anything at that moment, but she couldn't forgive too easily anymore. She wasn't the only person involved in this. "I want to believe you, Stef… and to forgive you. I really do. But I don't know if I can right now. How do I know that you didn't just come up with this story? That you're not making this all up?" Lena glanced down at her feet.

"Because I love you, Lena," Stef said with even more force in her voice as she stepped even closer toward the woman. "I'm divorcing Mike for you, I came out for you, my dad isn't even talking to me, and the only person I have right now that can be in the same room as me and can look me in the eye is my mom. Do you really think I would do all of that for the woman that I love more than anything in this world, and then ruin that for one night with Mike? …Come on, Lena. You know that I wouldn't do that," Stef reached for the back of Lena's neck with her hand to bring her even closer and to force her to look her in the eye. "Please tell me you know I wouldn't do that?" Stef begged as she watched tears spill from Lena's eyes onto her cheek.

* * *

><p>It was obvious that Lena was trying to be resistant by not saying anything in response, so Stef took the initiative to kiss her as if she had said responded. <em>If Lena pulled away, then she didn't believe her. And if she didn't, then she knew Stef was telling the truth.<em>

Lena pulled her face back just a little, causing Stef to stare back at her with worry. "I'm sorry," the brunette whispered back to her before she let out a deep breath, "But no more lies?"

Stef stared at her for a while before answering, "Okay," she nodded.

Lena smiled right before she grabbed onto the sides of Stef's blouse, to pull her even closer toward her body and press her lips against the blonde.

Stef couldn't help but be surprised by how strange her girlfriend was behaving, but she knew better than to stop her as she felt Lena's hands begin to lift her blouse from her jeans and unbuckle her belt. Stef backed away from their kiss a little as she watched her girlfriend removing her belt. "Are you sure about this?" she asked nervously.

"What?" Lena asked as if she hadn't even heard her and finished taking off Stef's blouse while they were in the hallway and began kissing her neck.

"Where's Callie?" Stef asked abruptly, and it was even strange to her that she was the one asking about her.

"Sleeping."

Stef tried to shake the thought out of her head as she unwrapped Lena's robe off of her and began kissing her chest and then going lower. But she stopped when she realized she couldn't. "And what if she wakes up?"

"She won't," Lena assured her.

"She can't see that I'm here," Stef reminded her, "I can't go inside." The blonde informed her as she began to stand up reluctantly.

Lena pulled Stef back towards her, "Who said anything about going inside?" the brunette smiled as she unzipped Stef's pants.

Stef opened her mouth and turned around to get a look at the other apartment doors, "What if someone else sees?"

Lena grabbed hold of Stef's face with both of her hands, "Stef?"

"What?"

Lena didn't want to sound desperate but after all of the crying she had done today, she had to feel this connection right now more than anything.

"I need this," Lena informed her and watched the blonde stare back at her.

Eventually, Stef gave into her girlfriend's big brown eyes. And she didn't want to admit it but she also knew that she needed it too.

To be continued…


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

* * *

><p><em>Next Evening (Monday)<em>

Stef walked out of the doctor's office with a feeling of complete emptiness. They had done an ultrasound and there was no denying the truth now.

_She was pregnant._

She stared at the sonogram in her hand and at the weirdly shaped fetus inside of her. You could barely make out much, but the head was clearly there. And still, she found herself making that appointment for Wednesday.

She sighed the second she got into the car and tried her best not to cry.

_Why did seeing the baby on screen make all of this that much more difficult?_

Her cellphone started to ring and she was thankful that it took her out of her thoughts. She pulled her phone from her belt clip and stared the screen to see Lena's name. Instantly she crumbled the picture up and threw it on the floor of her car, not even wanting to even think about it. Come Wednesday, it would be a non-issue.

She let out a deep breath and attempted to contain her emotions before she answered the call, "Uh, Hello?" she tried to sound casual, even though talking to Lena made her feel even worse for some reason.

"Hey, babe. We're on our way to Chuck E. Cheese. Are you still coming?"

Stef wiped a tear from her eye and was thankful that she was only on the phone with her girlfriend, "Yes. I'm on my way too. You'll probably be there before though."

"Okay. So how'd it go at the doctor's?"

"Fine," the blonde lied. "You know the usual checkup. No big deal."

"Okay. I'll see you soon?"

"Yup. Call you when I'm outside."

"Kay. Bye."

* * *

><p>"Mommy, why is Stef comin?" Callie asked in confusion.<p>

Lena sighed as she stared at her daughter through the rearview mirror, "Because I invited her, sweetie."

"But I was thinkin you were mad wit her?" the little girl questioned as she stared at Molly and attempted to wipe a speck of dirt from her doll's face with her thumb.

"I wasn't mad at Stef."

"Uhuh," Callie nodded as she stared at her mother through the mirror.

Lena shook her head and was beginning to realize that pulling one over on Callie was becoming more and more difficult. "It doesn't matter," she answered matter-of-factly. "I'm not mad at her now."

"Did she said sorry?" Callie continued her interrogation.

Lena tried hard not to laugh, "Yes, baby. She said sorry."

"Mkay," the five year old accepted it. "Are you still gonna play wit me?" she questioned worriedly.

"Of course I am," Lena informed her. "Why wouldn't I?"

Callie shrugged her shoulders in response.

Lena sighed when she realized that, getting Callie to accept Stef's presence wasn't going to change much was going to be a more difficult task than she thought.

* * *

><p>"But mommy, I'm not hungry," the little girl tried to inform her mother in a stern voice.<p>

"And I don't care," Lena responded as calmly as possible, wanting desperately not to get upset at all today. "You have to eat first if you want to go play."

"But I already eated," the girl continued to argue. "I had a hotdog at lunchtime."

"That was over six hours ago, Callie. Please don't do this to me today. Just eat your pizza and then you can go back to playing."

"Hey," Stef smiled as she saw the two sitting at the table.

"Hey, honey," Lena smiled as she allowed Stef to give her a kiss.

Callie took this as her opportunity to grab the small slice of pizza that had been lying on top of her paper plate and toss it under the table so that her mother wouldn't see.

Though it was obvious that Stef witnessed the deed, since she locked eyes with Callie for a second. But the blonde wasn't sure of whether or not to say anything to Lena.

"Hey, Callie," she started and Callie immediately made it look as if she had her mouth full and waved at her as she pretended to chew.

Lena turned around and looked at her daughter, "Callie, tell me you didn't just shove that entire pizza in your mouth?"

Callie shook her head as she continued to fake-chew.

_At least she wasn't lying_, Stef thought to herself as she stared the girl.

Reluctantly, she decided to take Lena's attention off of Callie so that she wouldn't notice and become irritated too soon on their date. "So, how was work?" she asked.

Lena sighed, "Busy. I had two new students come in today so I had to give them the tour. What kind of people have their kids switch schools at the end of the year?" Lena shook her head.

"I don't know," Stef replied honestly as she took a seat beside Callie in the booth, who was staring at her strangely. She was still trying to figure out if the woman was going to tell on her of what she really did with the pizza.

"And what about you? Have anything interesting happen at work?" Lena continued.

Stef sighed, "Well, aside from a drug bust at Oceanside High School… not really. It turned out that some of the kids there were dealing and—"

Lena's eyes widened. "Stef," she tried to stop her while she tried her best to shake her head no without having her daughter notice.

"What?" Stef asked in confusion.

"Mommy, what is dealing?"

"Passing out cards, sweetie. Passing out cards," Lena tried to answer in a casual tone.

Stef smiled at the quick cover-up.

"Like Uno?" the little girl asked.

"Yes, baby. Exactly like Uno."

"Or like Poker," Stef budded in but Callie just stared at her blankly.

"She doesn't know what Poker is, babe."

"Obviously," the blonde sighed.

Callie was getting bored with their conversation, and consequently turned her attention towards the maze gym. "Can I go play now?"

"Are you sure you don't want another slice of pizza, bug? They're pretty small," Lena attempted.

"No. I'm full wit da oder one," Callie nodded and Stef tried her best to hide her smile.

"Okay," Lena agreed reluctantly. "You want me to go with you?"

"No, I can go by myself," Callie assured her, and Stef stood up so that the five year old could get out of the booth.

"Okay, Callie?" Lena stopped her.

"Yeah?"

"Right here, where I can see you," Lena warned as she pointed toward the restricted area.

Callie sighed and nodded.

"I'm serious," Lena warned again, knowing that Callie sometimes would use the excuse, that she didn't hear her mother correctly. "Right here," she pointed again.

"Okay," Callie complained as she tried to leave.

"Wait a minute," Lena stopped her.

"Mommy, if you do not want me to go than why do you tell me to go?" Callie asked in an annoyed voice.

"Hey," Lena pointed her finger at her to let her know that talking back wasn't allowed. "Give me a kiss first."

Callie sighed and gave Lena a quick kiss on her cheek and Lena did the same on Callie's.

"You put lipstick on my face," the little girl complained as she wiped the lipstick off of her cheek with her sleeve, causing both women to laugh as she walked away.

* * *

><p>"What was that you said about your daughter being a good kid?" Stef tried to joke.<p>

"Hey, I never said she doesn't get embarrassed when I kiss her in public," Lena attempted to excuse.

"Uhuh," Stef smiled. "I think we all were like that once though… If I recall correctly, my mother made me wear a neon orange shirt every time we left the house to go play. It took me years to realize why, but—"

"Oh, how easy it must've been to spot you in the park," Lena teased.

"Right?" Stef laughed, "And even when I found out the reason why, can you believe she still made me wear it? It was so embarrassing that I wouldn't even bother to ask to go outside. And that, my friend, was way worse than a kiss," the blonde informed her.

"Maybe I should try that on Callie," Lena smiled.

"Please _do not_," Stef laughed. "Until this day I refuse to wear anything even remotely close to orange or neon."

Lena chuckled as she turned her head to check on Callie, where she had just seen her running towards the ball pit. She scanned it carefully and only noticed four children playing, none of which was Callie.

She glanced around again to search for her daughter, "Where's Callie?" she voiced with concern as she began to stand up.

"I just saw her," Stef continued, as she too stood up from her seat to glance over the ball pit. "Maybe she's hiding somewhere."

"No," Lena assured her. "I specifically told her not to move. Why would she move?" the woman asked with an even more panicked voice than she had before. Stef watched as Lena put her hand on her forehead and began scanning the entire area. "Callie!"

The worry in Lena's voice became evident to the blonde and instinctively she got a bad feeling about all of this as well. But the cop in her was telling her to calm down, "Okay, relax, Lena. We'll find her."

"Callie!" the woman shouted even louder, completely ignoring her girlfriend's effort to calm her down.

Stef sighed, when she noticed Lena was beginning to walk over toward the ball pit to search for her daughter. "I'll check the bathroom!" Stef shouted.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Callie. Where are you?" Stef mumbled to herself as she began her search for the girl. She checked both bathrooms and the entire arcade area and still no sign of the five year old. Apparently, Lena must've notified the staff because Callie's name had been called over the intercom twice in the past ten minutes, which just meant that they still hadn't found her.<p>

And just when Stef was about to give up and walk back over toward the table to check if Lena found her yet, she noticed a brown-haired girl sitting under the table in the dark room, where the birthday parties were held. However, there was no party at the moment and the entire room had been almost completely dark.

Stef let out a deep breath. "Oh thank God," she mumbled as she started to walk over towards the girl, who had her arms wrapped around her knees which were covering her head. Stef's first guess was that she was hiding since she was under the table.

"Callie? …Do you have any idea how worried your m—" Stef stopped midsentence, the second Callie glanced up and she got a look at her face. It was a mixture of relief and yet fear at the same time. It was obvious to the blonde that the five year old had been crying by the tears on her cheek but her eyes were widened in relief as soon as she saw the woman. Callie instantly began crawling out from underneath the table to grab hold of the woman's leg with her hands.

Stef froze when she noticed the sudden shift in the little girl's attitude. "Hey now. What happened?" she asked in a concerning tone. Her first thought was that someone tried to hurt her if she was this scared.

Callie stared at the dark stage, where the fake robots of Chuck E. and his friends were staring in their direction. "Dey are staring at me like dey are gonna kill me," the cried as she reached her hands up for the blonde to pick her up and made a desperate noise.

Stef squinted her eyes at the girl in surprise but picked Callie up anyway. "Sweets, they are not real."

"Yes dey are!" Callie screeched in Stef's ear as she wrapped her arms around the woman's neck, causing Stef's eyes to widen even more. "Chuck E. just went in dat room!" she pointed to the purple door that read STAFF.

"Okay," Stef gave in and carried her out of the dark and remote area, with her hand on her back. "But I don't understand why you would go in there to begin with. Didn't your mom tell you not to move?"

"But I needed to follow him," the little girl asked as she backed away so that she could stare Stef in the face.

"Who?"

Callie grunted out of frustration, when she noticed that the woman wasn't getting it, "Chuck E… But he leave-ded n dey turned off all da lights n dats when—"

"You hid under the table?" Stef realized.

"Uhm," Callie nodded as she stared at the robots on stage again.

Stef sighed as she began to come to grip with just how wild Callie's imagination was, or kids' imaginations were in general.

"Mommy's gonna scream at me now?" she asked worriedly.

Stef chuckled since she figured that a lecture from Lena was a given, considering just how scared the woman was. But Callie's face depicted more fear and the thought of getting yelled at surely would have made her even more upset.

"No, Callie," the blonde tried to assure her. "No one is going to scream at you," she answered, causing for the girl to sigh in relief as she wrapped her arms back around Stef's neck apparently still seeking her comfort.

To be continued…


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

* * *

><p>Stef quietly brought Callie up the steps to Lena's apartment door with Lena following right behind. It was strange for the brunette to see someone else carrying her sleeping daughter up the stairs, yet at the same time comforting. It seemed that the five year old got especially attached to Stef once the blonde promised that she wasn't going to get yelled at for disappearing. Lena followed through even though her motherly instinct was to make sure that Callie never did it again. But she knew very well that since Stef made that promise, it would've been even more problematic had Callie actually gotten in trouble.<p>

Lena opened the door for the two of them and allowed for Stef to go in first,  
>"Her bedroom is the last one down the hall to the left," she whispered and smiled as she watched her girlfriend take Callie into her bedroom.<p>

Stef opened the door, pushed over the comforter, and gently laid the girl on the bed, while the whole time hoping that she wouldn't wake her up on account of being too sloppy. But once she finally released the girl from the wrap around her neck, she sighed when she noticed Callie's eyes were still closed. The blonde reached for the comforter to pull it back over the girl's body, and Callie's hands instinctively reached for her pillow and tilted it vertically so that she could wrap her arms around it.

Stef smiled at the sight of her and it was strangely relaxing to see. She didn't feel as nervous and out of place out of place as she had felt before. Awkwardly, she felt comfortable around the girl now. Of course, she could blame it on the fact that Callie was unconscious and couldn't keep telling her what she was doing wrong.

But Stef knew that wasn't it. She got this feeling the second she picked Callie up from the floor when she was frightened at Chuck E. Cheese and when she stopped the girl's screams while they were on the swings. And even in Callie's sleep, the faint sound of her snoring made the woman adore her even more. It was now that she saw why Lena fell in love with Callie.

* * *

><p>"She's still sleeping?" Lena asked while making a nervous face when she saw her girlfriend coming towards her.<p>

"Yes. Snoring and all," the blonde smiled.

"Just don't tell her she does that," Lena warned. "She gets really mad."

"Duly noted," Stef said as she took a seat on the other side of the couch opposite of Lena. "The last thing I want is to tick her off after I finally got her to…_not_ hate me, I guess?"

"She never hated you."

"Sure," the blonde laughed.

"But," Lena started accusingly.

"Oh no," Stef mumbled and sighed. "What did I do?"

"It's just… the way you got Callie to trust you."

The blonde nodded, "You didn't like that I promised you wouldn't yell at her."

"She really scared me, Stef."

"I know—"

"She needs to know that she can't just disobey me and get away with it. I mean, you were right there. You _heard_ me tell her not to move from that one spot and she—"

"Moved," the blonde finished for her.

"Exactly."

"Well, in her defense, she just got really excited when she saw the live version of Chuck. E. She wanted to follow him. That's what kids do."

"That's even more my point," Lena counter argued. "She has to realize that she can't just wander off without telling me because she's excited. Like…" she took a deep breath before she continued, "What happens the next time she sees some man with a puppy at the park and she decides to just wander off with him because she's excited about the dog? Do you see? …It's not that I'm mad at her for getting excited. I'm mad that she thought it was okay to wander off without anyone's permission."

"You're right," Stef nodded. "And deep down, I know you're right. I've dealt with kidnappings in my own job and I of all people know how possible it is. It's just…when I saw how scared she was already, I didn't want her to…"

"No, I get it," Lena assured her. "You were trying to protect her. But…" she eyed the woman sternly, letting her know that it was still unacceptable.

"I know. I can't protect her from you," Stef admitted. "And I'm sorry," she finally caved in, even though she still thought she'd do it again if she had to. "But I still think she learned her lesson. I don't think she'd be following _anyone_ without you present," Stef raised her eyebrows.

* * *

><p>"Yes, Callie has quite an imagination," Lena smiled, "She doesn't like any type of dolls or stuffed animals in her room accept for Molly. She thinks they're plotting to kill her," she shook her head. "I have my mother to thank for that."<p>

"What do you mean?" Stef asked curiously.

"I mean, my mother watched Chuckie, that stupid serial-killer doll movie, with her one night and ever since then she hasn't been the same. She even made me throw out all of her glass dolls from her room after that."

"Oh no," Stef laughed.

"That's not including the ones she could reach for that I found smashed in her room and hidden under her bed so that I wouldn't find them."

"So she's sneaky?"

"Very," Lena admitted.

"Now I don't feel so bad," Stef chuckled.

"What do you mean?" Lena asked skeptically."

Stef paused for a second as she stared at her girlfriend, silently wondering if she should actually say anything.

"What?" Lena pressed.

"Well… Callie sorta… when I first got to the table, I kinda saw her toss her pizza underneath the table."

"Oh she did?" Lena began in a scary and surprised tone. "Uhm," she nodded as she stared off. "Here, I was thinking she had two slices of pizza instead of one."

"I know," Stef mumbled. "But at least she had that other slice," Stef pointed.

"Because you offered her it," Lena reminded her. "She knew that if she didn't eat it, you'd probably tell me about the pizza."

"Ooookay," the blonde muttered when she realized that she shouldn't have said anything. "Do you think you can…"

"Not tell her you told me?"

"Uhuh," Stef smiled awkwardly as she waited for her girlfriend's reply.

"Well," Lena sighed. "I don't think you should keep these things from me. I'm glad that you got her to eat something but I don't want her thinking that you will cover for her…"

Stef sighed, "She's finally starting to like me, babe."

"And I'm beginning to understand why," Lena retorted and relaxed when she saw the upset look on Stef's face. "I wont say anything, but… you have to remember whose team your on. Remember what I said about not allowing Callie to walk all over you?"

"Yes."

"Lying for her qualifies as walking all over you… She has to view you as the adult, not her friend."

"Gotcha," Stef nodded. "Won't happen again," she confirmed.

"Good."

"Why does it feel like I'm being lectured right now?" Stef mumbled.

"Because you are," Lena teased as she rested her head on Stef's chest. "If you want to act like Callie's friend, you'll get treated like one."

"Is that so?" Stef questioned.

"Yes, it is," Lena nodded as her girlfriend leaned in to kiss her forehead. "But you know, I'll admit. It did feel nice to see you two getting along for a change."

"Oh, please," Stef murmured. "She was just scared and I was the first person she saw to take her out of that place. She probably would've gotten along with Chuck. E. if he were to have seen her first."

"Maybe," Lena agreed. "But she still clung to you throughout the whole day. That has to say something, right? …And you were good with her too."

"I guess," Stef nodded as she ran her thumb along Lena's arm.

* * *

><p>"So you don't still think you completely suck with children anymore?"<p>

"Maybe not completely," Stef answered as she stared down at her own belly, for the first time realizing that she could handle this.

Lena looked up at her girlfriend and noticed the blonde in a spaced-out state, "Stef? Are you okay in there?" she smiled.

_I'm lying to you. How can I be okay?_ Stef thought to herself as she stared back at the woman.

"No," Stef answered honestly. "I'm not okay."

Lena immediately heard the seriousness in her girlfriend's voice and it automatically worried her. She lifted herself off of Stef's chest and stared at the woman but tried to sound calm. "What's wrong?"

Stef stood up from her spot on the couch and glanced away from Lena. She wasn't even sure she wanted to tell the woman at this time. And if she did, she wasn't sure she wanted to see the expression on Lena's face when she said it. She took a few steps forward and crossed her arms over her chest. "Um… There's something I need to tell you," she teared and quickly wiped them away, suddenly relieved that the woman couldn't see her from her position.

But Lena stood up and walked over to her, "What is it?"

Though the second Lena touched her arm, the blonde tried to turn away from her, wanting nothing more than to retract everything that she said, but knowing very well that she couldn't.

"Stef, please just say it," Lena pressed.

But her girlfriend kept staring down at her own arms that lied on top of her stomach and stood there in silence, even though Lena could see the shakiness in her entire posture.

"Honey, you're scaring me," Lena continued as she stepped in front of the woman and held her firmly, with both of her hands on her shoulders. She tried to lean her body lower so that Stef would have no choice but to meet her gaze, "Look, whatever it is, we can get through it together, okay? …But I can't be there for you if you don't tell me…"


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

* * *

><p>Stef drove for almost forty minutes without having a clue as to where she was headed. She was hardly focusing on the road or her surroundings in general, as her mind kept reverting back to what happened at Lena's apartment. Even the heavy sound of the rain slamming against her windshield wasn't enough to get her to snap out of how terribly wrong things had gone.<p>

* * *

><p><em>FLASHBACK<em>

_Stef took a few steps forward and crossed her arms over her chest. "Um… There's something I need to tell you," she teared and quickly wiped them away, suddenly relieved that the woman couldn't see her from her position._

_But Lena stood up and walked over to her, "What is it?"_

_Though the second Lena touched her arm, the blonde tried to turn away from her again, wanting nothing more than to retract everything that she said, but knowing very well that she couldn't. _

"_Stef, please just say it," Lena pressed._

_But her girlfriend kept staring down at her own arms that lied on top of her stomach and stood there in silence, even though Lena could see the shakiness in her entire posture._

"_Honey, you're scaring me," Lena continued as she stepped in front of the woman and held her firmly, with both of her hands on her shoulders. She tried to lean her body lower so that Stef would have no choice but to meet her gaze, "Look, whatever it is, we can get through it together, okay? …But I can't be there for you if you don't tell me…"_

_You probably wouldn't be there for me if I did tell you, Stef thought to herself, as she turned her gaze away from the woman. She took in another deep breath and found even that simple task quite difficult. _

_Why hadn't she just shut up about it? _

_She had already made up her mind about what she was going to do. So what had gotten into her? _

_Was it just second thoughts that were clouding her better judgment?_

_Stef tried to scour her brain for a lie to tell the woman… Something that would possibly cause for the same reaction that she was giving her. But she wasn't quick enough._

"_Stef, please don't do this, okay. I know what you're doing. But don't shut me out. We've been through so much already. Just tell me what this is about."_

_The blonde sighed and stared back at Lena. "I can't," she answered in a raspy tone. "It's complicated."_

"_Even more of a reason to let me help you—"_

"_You shouldn't have to," Stef interrupted. "This was my mistake, Lena. My. Stupid. Mistake. And now…" the blonde shook her head before slapping her knee and turning around._

"_We are partners, Stef. Whatever it is we're in this together. No matter how horrible you think this mistake is we can—"_

"_It's about Mike," the cop stopped her. She needed for Lena to stop consoling her. It would just make all of what was happening harder, if Stef really believed her. She didn't want to risk doing that and by the tense look on Lena's face, keeping this approach was desperately needed._

_Lena took in a deep breath through her nose, but her partner could see the woman's distress with the situation by the way Lena's chest rose and took so long to go back down. She could tell that Lena lost her breath and that, alone, made Stef feel sick to her stomach. _

_And when Lena felt ready enough to ask the next question, she did. "What… what about Mike?" Even she felt like she was lying to herself. Did she really even have to ask to know what mistake Stef had made? _

_Again, she felt so stupid for being put in the same situation twice. _

_Stef could see the slight anger on Lena's face, despite her attempt to remain calm and collective throughout it all. She couldn't let the woman continue to think what she was thinking. "I was telling the truth about what happened the other day," the blonde started. "I did not," she kept her voice stern, "I did not cheat on you. I have been faithful to you from the beginning. I would never… dream of doing anything like that to you."_

_Lena watched as Stef kept her eyes focused on her but she couldn't help but be confused. "Okay," she nodded and tried to relax herself._

"_And this was what I was afraid of. That if you found out, you'd think that, which is why I didn't want to tell you. I even thought I could make it go away because I didn't want to lose you."_

"_Stef, what are you talking about?" Lena rushed her in a louder tone. She wanted the woman to spit it out already, because just as she felt the slightest glint of hope, she felt her heart sink down again._

"_I…" Stef took a deep breath. "I—"_

"_MOMMY!" both women were interrupted by Callie's terrified scream._

_Lena already knew why she was screaming. She woke up in the complete darkness without her nightlight on. But for that split second she pressed Stef again, "Stef, just say it."_

_It was in a barely audible voice but the blonde finally let it out, "I'm p-pregnant."_

_Lena's eyes widened as she stared at the woman in complete shock. It wasn't making any sense to her. How could Stef tell her she had been faithful to her this entire time but just tell her she was pregnant? They had been dating for almost three months and Stef had never said a word about any of this… Lena would have figured it out earlier if what her girlfriend was saying were true._

"_Lena, please say something," Stef practically begged as she reached for Lena's hands and studied her face for some hint of emotion to explain how she felt about all of this. It was strange, even to her, how quickly the tables were turned and she was the one trying to pry out information now._

_Lena glanced away from her and down at the floor as she opened her mouth to say something but not a sound came out._

_Stef tried hard to remain still but her head was slightly moving, showing just how awkward and horrible she felt about all of this. She nervously watched Lena's facial expression, just waiting for her to say or do something to break the silence._

"_MOMMY!" Callie shouted again at the top of her lungs, and this time Lena could hear the desperation in her daughter's cries. And in an effort to escape the situation and tend to the girl's needs she released herself from Stef's grasp and began making her way to Callie's room._

_Stef stared after her for a while and even at the empty sight down the hall once she was gone. Her face depicted far from any emotion and she completely forgot she was there for a second._

_That didn't just happen, she thought to herself as she walked over to sit down on the sofa and wait. _

_FLASHBACK ENDED_

* * *

><p>And now that Stef was in the car, remembering how terribly all of that turned out, she was beginning to regret walking out of that apartment and not waiting to see if Lena would come out.<p>

_This wasn't like her. _

She would never back down from a fight. But the thought of Lena storming out of that room and kicking her out was what pushed her to do it. And even now, she couldn't remove the look Lena gave her from her mind no matter how fast she drove.

It wasn't until she felt the slight skidding that her tires made in the rain that she finally slowed down and pulled her car over from the highway. Once she came to a stop, she quickly pushed the gearstick in park and watched as the water hit her front windshield again. Stef let out the deepest breath she could muster, hoping that it would calm her down even more. However, it just made her realize all of tears he had been holding in since she left Lena's apartment.

The tears she hadn't shed because she was almost positive that the woman she loved didn't believe her.

The tears that she had been holding in at the anger she felt towards herself for even thinking about going through with the abortion. She hated herself for being so scared and not wanting to tell Lena the truth in the first place.

But she was beginning to recognize that she was right all along about how she would take it. Lena probably wouldn't even look at her again now.

And not before long, the tears were just spilling out from her eyes. And no matter how hard Stef tried to fight them back, even now that she was alone, she couldn't get them to stop. It wasn't until she glanced down at the floor of the passenger's side of the car that she finally attempted to get them to slow down a bit.

Instantly, Stef reached for the crumpled picture she threw in the car earlier today and wiped away at her eyes with her sleeve. Once she had it in her hands, she began unfolding it and smoothing it out on her lap with her hands. The woman turned on the light in her car and studied the black and white picture carefully for the first time since they handed it to her.

She tried to brush the image away, not wanting to barely look at the screen in the doctor's office or acknowledge that there was an actual person inside of her. But she had no reason to avoid it now. _I didn't go through all of that for nothing, right?_ She thought to herself. And even after her encounter with Lena, she still felt the same way about her kid. _She wanted to keep it._

Stef sat there silently and made a sad laugh at how weird the image looked and how complicated and confusing it still was to her. She ran her index finger over the photo as she tried to make out where the baby's hands and feet were but couldn't find them, which just confused her even more.

Though she was immediately taken out of her daze when she felt her phone quickly vibrate against her belt clip. She sighed as she removed the device, having no clue what to expect and not having a single hope left.

But she froze when she saw the text was from Lena: _I meant what I said. Please come back._


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

* * *

><p>Stef stood by Lena's apartment door for almost five minutes, just trying to find the courage to knock and wondering if she should even do that with the possibility of waking up Callie. Throughout the entire drive back, she had been considering what to say to Lena when she got here. But now it was as if she had completely blanked out and didn't have a clue where to start.<p>

_Come on, Stef. Get it together_, she tried to persuade herself as she pulled her cellphone out of her belt clip and stared at it. And without even thinking twice, she began to call Lena, suddenly regretting not texting her instead.

_They wouldn't be able to talk if Callie was wide-awake and present._

_But maybe that would be better_, she started to realize since she was already dreading this conversation that hadn't even begun yet. And just a few seconds later the call went straight to voicemail, which caused the blonde to feel just a glimpse of relief. Though those four seconds were easily diminished at the sounds of the twisting of the lock on the other side and the turning of the doorknob.

Lena slowly pulled the door open and silently stared at the shameful and embarrassed look on her girlfriend's face for a few more seconds before opening the door even further for the blonde to walk through.

Stef did so awkwardly as she put her put her phone back in her belt clip, "Did… Is Callie…"

"She's sleeping," Lena assured her before she closed the door and turned around to stare at the woman.

Stef nodded slowly as she tried to scour her brain for the right words to start this. She made the mistake of looking Lena in the eye, which just caused her to freeze up even more.

Though her girlfriend was growing impatient as every second that went by and nothing was being said. She thought she'd make the first move and walk over toward the sofa, which was only just a few feet away and take a seat. She grabbed her hair tie from around her wrist and put her hair up in an effort to simply do anything to kill the dead silence that had filled her entire apartment.

* * *

><p>"So, do you wanna start or should I?" she finally asked.<p>

Stef turned her body around and noticed that Lena had her hands intertwined with each other and they were sitting on top of her lap. Her leg was in a comfortable position underneath her other thigh and she seemed to have all of her attention on the blonde in front of her.

Stef figured she owed this much to Lena at least and her silence wasn't helping anything. "Um," she began as she tried to make her way over toward the couch and take a seat, making sure to keep some space in between the two of them so that neither would feel crowded or uncomfortable if things were to go wrong. "I uh," she coughed nervously before she forced herself to keep going, "…I'm sorry I lied to you yesterday. Lena, I _wanted_ to tell you—"

"Then why didn't you?" Lena interrupted. She knew that she was coming off as harsh but there were so many reasons for her to be mad that she couldn't keep herself contained anymore. "I asked you—"

"I know," Stef said.

"I told you to be honest with me. I asked you last night if there were any more lies that I should know about—"

"I know," she repeated. "But I didn't want to risk losing you—"

"And you thought the best way to do that was to lie? After I specifically told you not to?" Lena asked in confusion.

The blonde let out a huge breath and closed her eyes to take a second for herself before she opened them again. "…Lena, I—I was scared to tell you. After all that happened yesterday, I couldn't—" she took another frustrated breath, "I couldn't tell you 'Hey, Lena. No, I didn't cheat on you. But I'm thirteen weeks pregnant with Mike's baby even though we started dating fourteen weeks ago.' Why would you believe me after the argument we had about Mike last night?"

"Stef, I'm not completely ignorant about how this stuff works. _I know_ that pregnancy isn't actually calculated until two weeks after conception. But what I don't understand is why you couldn't just tell me this when you first found out about it."

"I did just find out about it," Stef tried to defend.

"When? Thirteen weeks is long time to go without getting your period, Stef. Don't you think that would've been your first clue?" she asked sarcastically.

"No," Stef admitted. "Because…because I was on the pill and-and I've gone months without getting it. Then Mike and I stopped being… intimate," she said awkwardly, "So as a result I stopped remembering to take it. And I've heard that it can take a while for some women to go back to their regular… flow," she paused.

She hated talking about this with Lena but she needed for her to understand that she honestly didn't know. "I began to suspect yesterday morning and I didn't even want to really believe it until I was absolutely sure. So when I went to the doctor's today and he confirmed it..." Stef stopped again as she stared at the blank expression on Lena's face. "Lena, please say something."

"When were you going to tell me? We've spent the past three days together and you've been acting as if nothing was wrong. The _entire_ time," she added for emphasis. "I …can't understand that," she shook her head. "Even if you've only considered the possibility for two, you should have said something."

"I didn't think I would have to," Stef confessed in a firmer tone.

* * *

><p>Lena furrowed her eyebrows at her and changed her posture, twisting her body around even more so that she could get a better look at the blonde. "And what does that mean?"<p>

Stef inhaled before opening her mouth again, "I wasn't going to tell you because… I made an appointment for Wednesday to _fix_ all of this."

Lena's mouth slightly opened at the revelation, "So wait a minute…" she started while she stared down at the floor for a few seconds in an attempt to take this information in. She heard Stef say earlier that she thought she could make it go away but this was the last thing she considered her doing. And even if she did consider it she didn't think her girlfriend would go as far as make an appointment to have it done, especially considering her religious upbringing. "… So you thought you'd have an abortion on Wednesday and what? Pretend as if nothing had ever happened? Continue lying to me about it?"

"I thought it was the only way," Stef argued and inhaled again when she remembered that Callie was still sleeping and she shouldn't be raising her voice.

"I can't even believe you would do something like that just so that I—"

"Just so that you wouldn't find out," Stef nodded. "Yes! I would have! I would completely go against my own gut just so to ensure that I wouldn't lose you! Yes! And I'm sorry if you hate my for it and if you think it was the stupidest thought I've ever had. But at the time, I thought it was the only solution I had left…"

Lena stared at Stef's face and could tell that she was angry yet at the same time doing a horrible job at holding back her own tears that were beginning to fill her eyes. She could see the determination in her still posture, but the slight trembling of her chin showed just how emotional she felt about all of this.

"That wasn't your only solution," Lena informed her. "Trying to erase your problem is never the only solution. It isn't even a solution at all. It's… stupid."

"Why thank you," Stef said sarcastically as she shook her head and glanced at the wall.

Lena turned her head back around to look at the woman, "I don't want this, Stef."

Stef placed her own gaze down and ran her fingers through her hair.

"I don't want you to keep lying to me, Stef," the brunette continued, causing Stef to bring her attention back towards her. "That's the biggest way that you will lose me... I've been lied to _so much_ already and I'm sick of it. I need to trust you and you need to trust me enough to be able to tell me _anything_, even if you think that I'm not going to like it…"

"I do trust you, Lena."

"Then you would have allowed me to make this decision for myself instead of making it for me. It wasn't up to you," Lena tried to make herself sound perfectly clear.

"I know. And I'm sorry... But I can't change anything about it now."

"You can be honest. Not just to me but to yourself," the woman reasoned.

"I'm trying."

"Then… Do you want to have this baby?" Lena questioned as if the answer would be simple if Stef would just say it.

* * *

><p>Stef sunk her entire body into the couch and stared up at the ceiling as she began to feel a thousand different emotions at once. But assurance was the biggest one of them. "Yes, I really do… And I never thought I would ever want to but…"<p>

"Then, it's settled then," Lena said matter-of-factly as she moved her own body over towards Stef and laid back until they were side-by-side. She turned her head to stare at the woman, "We're having a baby," she answered in a relaxed and adamant tone.

Stef tilted her head to stare at her girlfriend and could feel nothing but acceptance now after all that had just happened though she couldn't even begin to understand why.

"Don't question it, Stef. It's my choice," Lena continued as if she read her girlfriend's mind "... You're not the only one who would go through hell and back to keep what we have…_this_," Lena said as she grabbed onto Stef's hand with her own and intertwined her fingers with the blonde's, lifting their hands up a little so that they both could see them from their laying positions. "Now all I'm asking for in return is that you trust me and that you never attempt to make such a ridiculous decision like this without talking to me about it first."

"I don't deserve you," Stef admitted as she tried to turn her head away from the woman and stare back at the ceiling, but Lena quickly grabbed hold of her chin with her other hand and forced the blonde to face her.

"Don't say that," she kept her voice stern so that Stef wouldn't argue. "You're an amazing woman and I love everything about you. You love like no one I've ever met before. You're the most self-less, caring, and strongest person I've ever let come into my life, and I admire everything about you… Though you don't think anything through, and you make incorrect assumptions based on your own doubts… and you joke about the most serious situations to the point where I start to think I can't stand you but…"

"Was this part of the conversation that was supposed to make me feel better?" Stef joked as she started to furrow her eyebrows and stare skeptically at Lena.

Lena laughed, "_This_ is what I mean," she smiled. "I love you… And that includes the good and the bad. Andddd we're going to figure out how to make this work because of _that reason_ alone… So stop being so stubborn and accept it."

Stef let out a short disbelieving laugh, "I'm not stubborn."

"Yes, you are," Lena smiled at the realization that her girlfriend was so ignorant of it.

"I'm not," Stef asserted, causing for Lena to point her finger at Stef's mouth so that she would think about what she was just doing even now. Stef rolled her eyes and stared away from her with embarrassment.

"What were you going to say?" Lena pressed in a sarcastic tone as she began to sit up a little. "I think it was going to be something along the lines of _stubbornness _again?" she smiled.

"I— I wasn't going to say anything," Stef reasoned as she turned around to face her.

"Yeah, you were," Lena continued as she began to nod.

"No, I wasn't," Stef smiled before she grabbed hold of the back of Lena's neck with her hand, to stop Lena from moving her head, and brought her face closer so that she could kiss her.

_If I'm not going to win this battle, I can at least make it go away_, Stef thought to herself as she pressed her lips against Lena's and watched in satisfaction as Lena was forced to give in and keep quiet.

_Maybe she was stubborn but she'd never admit it._


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

* * *

><p><em>3 Weeks Later<em>

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Lena asked as she walked over towards Stef after grabbing her brief case from the table.

"You make it sound like I have a choice," Stef teased and turned her head to look at the open door of Callie's bedroom.

Lena smiled, "I just…" She paused and made a nervous face while she stared at her girlfriend. "I didn't want to do this to you on your day off but I completely forgot about her preschool being closed and having to stay late for back to school night. If you want, you can drop her off at my mom's place after 6, okay?"

Stef brought her hands to the edges of Lena's face and held her steady, "It's fine. We'll be fine. Stop worrying."

"It's my job to worry. I never left her alone with you like this. Or with anyone aside from my mother for that matter… especially not _for this long,_" Lena added for emphasis. "If anything happens or if she says anything, you just let me know."

"Yes," Stef nodded.

"And let her know that I will deal with her when I get back."

"Okay," Stef chuckled.

"No, I'm serious," Lena continued. "I can't have her reverting back to the way she was treating you."

"Lena?" Stef tried to stop her. "I got this."

"Okay," Lena let out a deep breath.

"Does she at least know I'm here?" the blonde questioned worriedly this time. The last thing she wanted was a repeat of the morning after she slept here.

"I told her last night," Lena nodded assertively. "And I made sure she was listening and everything."

"Well good," Stef smiled. "Then we should be all set."

"Okay, make sure she eats something when she wakes up and for l—"

"Lunch and dinner," Stef nodded. "Yep. I got it. I'm not going to starve the poor thing, Lena."

"No, I know."

"And I think you are running late," Stef let her know, causing Lena to look at her wristwatch.

"Oh my God," she mumbled as she grabbed her jacket from the sofa and leaned into her girlfriend. "I'll see you later?"

"Yes," Stef said before giving Lena a quick peck on the lips. "Bye."

* * *

><p>The second Callie woke up, she did what she always did on weekend mornings. Try to sneak into the living room and watch cartoons. It was Monday but she completely forgot that she didn't have school and tip-toed toward the living room, while paying close attention to her mother's door in an effort not to wake her. And it wasn't that she wasn't allowed to watch tv first thing in the morning. She just liked doing it alone for some reason. It made her feel grown up to not have anyone watching her, even if it was only for less than an hour.<p>

The five year old ran over toward the couch as soon as she passed Lena's room and smiled as she grabbed the controller from the coffee table and jumped on the sofa. She turned on the TV and quickly clicked to Nickelodeon.

As soon as Stef heard the loud sound from the TV, she knew that Callie was awake. It had only been two hours since Lena left, and the blonde couldn't help but feel a little nervous around the kid.

For the past few weeks, they did all spend some time together but Callie barely spoke to Stef aside from that day at Chuck E. Cheese. If Stef would ask her a question, Callie would look to Lena when she answered it and respond almost shyly. It was better than the rude Callie she first met, but Stef was beginning to wonder by how much…

The blonde moved from the kitchen and glanced at the girl, who was staring at the television screen intently while watching Dora The Explorer. The woman smiled when she saw how concentrated she was but remembered what Lena said.

"Good morning, Callie," Stef started with a smile, but the girl turned her attention away from the TV and stared back at Stef with the utmost confusion evident all over her face.

It took her longer than a few seconds to answer, "Hi?" she said flatly.

Stef chuckled, "Your mom told you that you'd spend all day with me… Remember?

Callie tilted her head to the side and gave a half nod and she seemed far from happy about it.

Stef tried not to let it get to her. Maybe she could use today to her advantage. Maybe she'd get Callie to feel more comfortable around her. "Well, first thing's first, I have to make you breakfast. What would you like?"

Callie shrugged her shoulders while turning her head back towards the TV.

"Okay…" Stef sighed. "There's cheerios?" she tried to say enthusiastically but Callie either ignored her or was too concentrated on what the map was saying in the show.

"Alright, I guess that's a no… Oatmeal? I saw some strawberry oatmeal in the cabinets. Is that okay?"

Callie remained silent.

Stef sighed again. "Callie?"

"Yes, mommy?" Callie answered out of habit as she kept her attention on the singing purple backpack. Dora was asking her a question about what they needed for their adventure to save the lost baby birds. Callie pointed to the boat so that they would cross the river.

Stef knew that the girl hadn't meant to call her that and also that Callie wasn't listening to anything she was saying at all. She chose not to embarrass her. "Callie, are you going to eat oatmeal if I make it?"

"Uhuh," the kid agreed as she made herself even more comfortable by laying down horizontally on the couch now, so she could watch the television more comfortably.

"Oatmeal it is then," Stef reasoned as she walked back over towards the kitchen. She was relieved that now all she had to do was microwave the contents of the packets with some water, and she would already have Task 1 of the day completed.

* * *

><p>"Callie, come and eat please," the blonde said loud enough to snatch the girl's attention from the television.<p>

Callie sighed and got up to walk over towards Stef, even though she was semi-upset that she wouldn't be able to warn Dora and Boots about Swiper the fox. She walked over towards the chair with the other bowl and sat in it, while Stef sat in the other chair and handed Callie a spoon.

"Bon appétit," Stef said, causing for Callie to squint her eyes at her and make a face that caused Stef to chuckle silently.

The girl reached for the bowl and stared at the contents inside, "Um… Why are you makin me eat drow up?" Callie questioned as she placed the spoon back down on the table with resistance.

Stef laughed but Callie couldn't see what was so funny. "Sweets, that's not throw up. It's strawberry oatmeal."

"Well it looks like strawberry drowup. I don't want it," Callie shook her head as she started to get out of her seat but Stef tried to hold her back.

"Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute," she said really fast. "Now, you haven't even tried it. How do you know you're not going to like it?"

"Cuz I don't like anyding dat looks like drow up."

"It tastes like strawberries," Stef tried to assure her as she brought the bowl closer to the girl. "At least try it and then tell me you don't think it tastes good."

Callie let out an exaggerated sigh and pushed the bowl back to where it was, "When I try it, I will drow up."

"No, you won't. Come on," Stef smiled while putting Callie's spoon in her oatmeal.

"I. Said. No," the five year old voiced sternly as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Stef stared at Callie and knew that she couldn't force the food down her throat, so she had to bite her tongue. She inhaled a deep breath as she grabbed her own spoon and placed it inside of the bowl. She scooped up some and placed it into her mouth. It wasn't until she glanced down at the bowl again, that she realized she had made a mistake.

Callie furrowed her eyebrows as her eyes watched the blonde quickly get up from her seat and run towards the bathroom, shutting the door right behind her. The five year old made a disgusted face when she heard the sound of Stef throwing up coming from the other side.

"Yuck," she mumbled as she grabbed her bowl and walked over towards the garbage bin, tossing the entire thing out along with the metal spoon. She shook her head slightly as she walked back over towards the table to grab one of the chairs and drag it towards the fridge.

The girl stood on top of it and pulled open the freezer, grabbing a box of chocolate pops in the process. She jumped off and grabbed one before walking back towards the bathroom door and waiting for the woman to come back out.

* * *

><p>After about a minute, Stef pulled open the door and wasn't surprised to see Callie staring back at her with a disapproving expression.<p>

"I tol' you," the five year old said while shaking her head again. "Drow up is not breakfas," she answered matter-of-factly.

Stef sighed and tried her best to hide the smile that unwillingly formed on her face. "No it's not."

"Open this," the girl said as she handed the unopened pop to the blonde.

"Uh…" Stef started skeptically. "Ice cream is not breakfast either."

Callie continued to stare at her.

"Sweets, I don't think that's such a good idea. Your mom—"

"Please?" Callie said more politely as she eyed the woman desperately.

"…You're still going to eat breakfast?" the woman eyed the kid carefully.

"Uhuh."

"Okay," Stef mumbled as she grabbed the pop from Callie and began unwrapping it, handing it back to her directly afterwards.

"Dank you," she responded before she ran back towards the couch with the ice cream.

Stef sighed and walked back towards the dining room table to grab the bowls, but noticed that one of them were gone. "Callie?"

"Uhuh?"

"What happened to your bowl?" the blonde asked.

"I dunno," she shrugged her shoulders.

Stef kept her gaze focused on the girl, which made Callie feel uncomfortable, so she turned her attention back towards the TV and tried to focus on that instead.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

* * *

><p>After Callie promised Stef she'd eat breakfast, there was absolutely no doubt that they'd still had a debate over it. The five-year-old complained that she was too full from the ice cream, and Stef reminded her that she promised. After a few minutes, Callie gave into the woman's stare and accepted the bowl of cheerios but Stef agreed that she didn't have to eat them with milk. Not the healthiest choice, but the blonde definitely learned her lesson: <em>Don't make deals with Callie<em>.

The girl sat cross-legged on the sofa with the bowl of cheerios in between her legs and she noticed that Stef was sitting on the other sofa as well, eating her own bowl of cheerios. The girl silently giggled when she first saw the woman, realizing just how clueless she seemed to be. Lena would throw a fit if she came in right now and saw them eating in the living room instead of on the table. But that's what she was starting to like about this other woman.

Stef lifted her gaze up from the bowl and placed it on Callie, who quickly diverted her own and stared at the television again. But the smile was harder for Callie to get rid of.

Stef furrowed her eyebrows at the kid, obviously wondering what on earth she was finding so funny. She finished chewing the rest of the food in her mouth. "What's so funny, Callie?" she asked in a soft yet curious tone.

Callie shook her head and tried to act as if nothing happened before looking back at Dora and shoving a handful of cheerios in her mouth.

The blonde watched her for a few more seconds, hoping to catch her smiling again but didn't. After a minute or two Callie turned her head towards Stef and tried to hand her the bowl.

"I'm finish."

Stef placed her own bowl on the coffee table and went to grab the one from Callie. She was surprised when she saw that it was empty. "For someone that was full, you sure ate a lot," the blonde teased. "Do you want some more?"

Callie shook her head. "Where we goin?"

"Uh," Stef tilted her head. "I'm not sure… Ya know, I was thinking we could go to my mom's house? What do you think about that?"

Callie squinted her eyes at the woman, "Why? Are dere oder kids dere? Kids like me?" She pointed at herself as she spoke.

"Um, no. My mom's there," Stef said matter-of-factly and waited for Callie to say something.

Callie made a face that depicted disgust and pain at the same time. "I don't wanna see…g-go see your mom," the girl stuttered. "I don't know her."

"That's even more reason to see her. So you can get to know her," Stef reminded her.

"No," Callie shook her head at the woman. "Can I get some more cheerios?" she asked in order to distract Stef's thoughts. It would work with Lena sometimes…especially if she ate really slowly.

"I thought you said you were full?" Stef questioned out of confusion.

"Not no more."

* * *

><p>Stef watched Callie carefully and noticed how slow she was eating. Before she would grab a handful of cheerios and shove them into her mouth. And now, she was grabbing one every couple of minutes and chewing on it very carefully and slowly.<p>

"Callie, I think you're really going to like my mom. She's really great with kids," Stef urged with a smile, hoping to get Callie to reconsider.

The five-year-old stared at the blonde blankly for a few more seconds as if her opinion wouldn't change. _There's no kids there, no one she knows, so why should she go? _

Stef took in another deep breath before she got up to take her bowl to the kitchen, but Callie's next question immediately stopped her in her tracks.

"Stef, what's a bimbo?"

The blonde froze and made an uncomfortable face before she slowly turned around and saw Callie looking back at her with sudden interest. She took a short while before responding. "What?" she asked nervously, hoping that she heard the girl wrong.

"Yesterday Granma said dat's what you are. A bimbo. I was gonna ask mommy but den I forgoted."

Stef's mouth dropped open at what Lena's daughter was telling her.

_A bimbo? Really?_ she thought to herself. She still hadn't met Lena's parents yet, but the fact that they already thought this of her was a bit confusing. And Callie had spent all day yesterday with Stef and Lena, so she knew the girl was getting her days mixed up.

To make matters worse, she had no idea how to respond to Callie.

"Uh…" Stef started awkwardly. "When did she say this?"

"Yesterday," Callie answered firmly. "Dey got in a fight and den granma left becuzza you."

Stef took in a deep breath and realized that this must have been the day after she slept over because Lena mentioned getting into an argument with her mother a few weeks ago. Callie was definitely confused.

"They did?" Stef asked curiously.

"Uhuh," Callie nodded. "So are you a bimb—"

"No," Stef quickly stopped her. The last thing she needed was for Lena's five-year-old daughter to refer to her as a bimbo every time she saw her. "No, I am not. And Callie, please don't use that word."

"Why?" the girl asked innocently.

"Because…it's not very nice."

"But Granma said—"

"I know what Grandma said. But I am not a—" Stef kept herself from saying the word again. "I'm not _that_."

"It's a bad word?" Callie asked worriedly.

"Yes," Stef answered.

"So I have to yell at Mommy and Granma for sayin it," the little girl rationalized as she popped another cherrio into her mouth.

"Uh, no," Stef shook her head.

"Yes," the girl nodded again. "Mommy said no bad words in da house… N den she said bim— a bad word. Dat's not allowed," Callie moved her finger from side to side.

"Well," Stef began. "It's not really a bad word. It's just…"

"So I can call you dat?"

"No," Stef's eyes widened. "It's not a nice word, so you shouldn't say it at all."

"But—"

"And your mommy and grandma are adults so they can say what they want and you can't yell at them."

"But dey yellded at me when I say stupid. So dat means I can—"

"Do you wanna go to the movies?" Stef quickly interrupted her, wanting nothing more than to change the subject. If Lena came home and Callie told her she gave her permission to yell at her, then that was definitely going to be an issue.

The little girl's eyes instantly gleamed and her ears perked up. There was nothing she loved more than to go to the movies. "Uhuh," she nodded and waited for the woman to change her mind for a few seconds.

"Okay," Stef smiled. "Go get changed."

* * *

><p>Just as Stef got done washing the dishes, texting Lena about the movies, and picking up the cherrios that Callie dropped onto the couch, she walked over toward the trash bin to throw them out. Immediately, she caught glimpse of the bowl that the mischievous five-year-old had tossed in.<p>

"What the hell has this woman gotten me into?" she mumbled to herself while shaking her head and smiling. She tried to think back to when she was a kid and contemplated on whether or not she was this devious. She remembered stealing candy from the corner store by where she lived and her mother making her return it whenever she got caught, but that didn't really stop her from doing it. It just reminded her not to get caught the next time.

And the funniest thing about it was that she didn't know how to handle it or if she should be the one to either. She remembered what Lena said about not being her friend, but she didn't want Callie to think of her as her enemy either.

"BOO!" Callie jumped out from behind the woman and grabbed her by her waist, in an obvious attempt to startle the woman. And it worked too because Stef completely lost her footing and had to grab onto the counter so that she wouldn't fall. Her hands instinctively wrapped over her stomach afterwards.

Instantly, a convulsion of laughter was heard from behind her and Stef had to take to deep breath before turning around and glancing at Callie. But the surprised look on the woman's face just made the sounds of the giggling increase and Callie had to cover her face to tame them a bit. Stef sighed and tried her best not to make a big deal out of this. It wasn't like the five-year-old knew that she was pregnant or knew of the dangers an actual fall can do to a fetus.

"…Callie?"

_More giggling._

Stef waited a few more seconds and tried not to start laughing herself. It was strange how contagious the girl's laugh was even it was directed towards her. And Stef couldn't be a hypocrite either. She remembered jumping out and scaring her parents half to death at times too when she was a child.

And the purple tutu that Callie was wearing and crown was laughable in itself.

"Callie?" she tried to say seriously.

Callie struggled to take in a few breaths to get her laughter to subside. "Did I scare you?" she finally asked with an obvious smile on her face.

Stef stared at her sternly, "You know you did."

"Dat was better den when I scare mommy," the kid confessed. "I like your face," she started giggling a little more again.

Stef took in a deep breath. _At least she's opening up to me_, the blonde thought to herself. _Even if she was doing it in a cruel way._

"You do know that it's not nice to scare people."

"But it is still funny," the girl rationalized.

"Not if someone gets hurt," Stef tried to remind her. "Someone can get really hurt, like they can fall and crack their head open or… they can have a heart attack."

"Dats what mommy tolded me," Callie answered with a saddened look on her face. "Sorry, I don't remembered."

"That's okay," the blonde assured her when she noticed the sudden change of attitude. "And…" Stef looked the girl up and down skeptically, noting the white dress up shoes and the princess wand in her hand. "Sweets, what are you wearing?"

"You tolded me to get dressed," Callie reminded her. "I'm dressed."

Stef's mouth opened slightly as she tried to figure out what to say, "Uh… I think I should pick your outfit."

"Why? You don't like my tutu? I worked-ted very hard to find it," the five-year-old informed her in a depressed voice.

"No," Stef assured her. "I think you look very pretty."

"Den why you need me to change?" Callie questioned as she looked down again at her outfit and ran her fingers through the ruffles.

"Well…" Stef started, "…Well, first off it's pretty cold outside. I wouldn't want you to get sick."

"I won't," Callie nodded. "I can wear my coat and my pajamas under the tutu."

Stef squinted her eyes at her.

"Please?" Callie pleaded. "I not gonna scare you no more."

"Oh no," Stef said. "I'm not making any more deals with you, missy." Stef pointed her finger at the five-year-old accusingly.

Callie furrowed her eyebrows at the woman as if she didn't understand.

Stef tried to keep her face straight but the little girl didn't look like she was going to back down either. She let out a deep breath before she answered, "Fine, but maybe you have some leggings you can put under instead… or even over them maybe? Does that sound good?" she tried to reason with her.

"Okay," Callie nodded. "Can we see a scary movie at da movies?" she asked with obvious enthusiasm in her voice.

"You like scary movies?" the blonde asked skeptically. "Me too. Your mom lets you watch them?"

"Yeahuh," Callie lied as she grabbed onto Stef's hand and pulled her towards her bedroom as quickly as possible, now wanting to get to the movie theatre sooner. She didn't want to risk having her mom's new girlfriend finding out the truth.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Stef led Callie into the movie theatre and immediately felt awkward due to the strange looks she was receiving by everyone around her. She already felt strange enough that she was walking in with Callie in the first place. The blonde had never taken another kid out in a public place like this before but the disapproving looks from those around her and the slight snickering from a few of the men on her way to the ticket stand was beginning to really get to her.

Perhaps she shouldn't have allowed Callie to wear dark purple leggings under her lavender colored tutu and a neon green jacket over it. She glanced down at the little girl again, and smiled when she realized that Callie was completely oblivious to all of the people surrounding them. Instead she had her eyes focused on the red lollipop that Stef had given her in the car and the popcorn machine by the concession stand.

Callie squeezed Stef's hand tighter and looked up at her, "Stef?"

Stef already knew what she was going to ask. "Popcorn?" the blonde confirmed.

Callie smiled and nodded in amazement. It was so incredibly strange for her that Stef knew exactly what she wanted just but looking at her. Linda was never even able to do that and she'd known the Lena's ex-girlfriend for longer. The only other person who could do that was her mother.

"Okay," Stef said as she eyed the girl suspiciously. She was beginning to wonder why Callie was so smiley and from experience, the girl loved to play tricks and be sneaky. Then she noticed her lollipop was gone. Stef's hand immediately went for her back as she tried to trace the pattern of her clothes for any sign of it but didn't find one. "Callie, where's your lollipop?" she asked the girl.

"It falled on da floor," Callie answered honestly.

"And you didn't pick it up?" Stef asked in confusion as she searched for the cherry flavored stick that she had just seen Callie with. But strangely it was no where in sight.

"Mommy said don't eat food when dey touched da floor."

"I know, short-stuff. But you shouldn't litter either," Stef teased.

Callie glanced back at the movie posters, "Okay. I'm sorry. Can we watch dat one?" she asked enthusiastically at the vampire movie poster.

"Vampires?" Stef asked skeptically.

Callie smiled brightly, "Uhuh."

* * *

><p>As soon as the movie was over, Stef noticed a dramatic clinginess from Callie to herself. She was walking practically side-by-side and staring at every one in the movie theatre with worry evident in her eyes. To Callie, it was like any one of these people could be vampires and try to bite her at any given moment, though she expected Stef, as the adult, to be the braver one and protect her.<p>

Stef glanced down at her watch and noticed it was 3pm. _What was she supposed to do with Callie now that the movie was over? She didn't want to go to her mom's place so what other option did she have? _After what happened at the park the last time she was scared to take Callie there again...

_Food,_ Stef thought to herself. _That should take up time_.

"Are you hungry?" Stef asked the girl just as they got into the car.

"No," Callie answered honestly.

The blonde let out a deep breath, "Well, missy, you have to eat something. It's lunchtime. So what do you want?"

Callie stared blankly at her and it was obvious that she was upset with the woman.

Stef tried not to appear rattled by the stare Callie was giving her. "Don't give me that look, kiddo. You have to eat something," she answered, suddenly feeling proud of herself for letting Callie know that 'no' wouldn't be taken for an answer.

Callie glanced out of the window in response. She didn't want to test the woman. And she knew that with Lena absent, she didn't have anyone to defend her if things were to get complicated.

Stef pursed her lips as she tried to figure out what to do next. "Uh… There's a McDonalds nearby? Or Burger King maybe?"

The kid furrowed her eyebrows at her mother's new girlfriend. _Lena didn't let her eat those things. She said they were unhealthy and not real food._

But then she realized that Lena wasn't there.

"MacDonalls!" Callie practically yelled from the backseat.

Stef's eyes widened at the sudden change of attitude coming from Callie.

_But she wants to eat_, Stef rationalized. _Why question it now?_

* * *

><p><em>Hours Later<em>

Stef felt like she could finally exhale when she closed Callie's bedroom door to put her to bed. After she got done washing the dishes, she glanced around the apartment once more fairly quickly, before walking over towards the couch and sinking her body into the cushions. She surveyed her surroundings before turning on the television and making a panicked face when she heard the roaring volume Callie had left the TV on that morning. Her eyes widened as she held the volume button down until it was almost on mute. She let out another sigh of relief while she started flipping through the channels.

She kept flipping until she stopped at a cooking show. She tilted her head, not really wanting to watch it but wanting to be able to impress Lena with something that actually tasted somewhat edible. She didn't know how to cook but she would learn if she knew it might make Lena happy.

After just a couple of minutes of watching the show, Stef heard Callie's bedroom door creak open. Her eyes closed for a few seconds, just praying that Callie would go back to bed or that she just got up to use the bathroom or something.

The five-year-old tiptoed towards the living room with her purple fleece blanket of Disney princesses and her favorite DVD in her hands. She noticed the blonde on the sofa with her eyes closed and realized that she was probably sleeping. Though that wouldn't stop Callie at this point, since she was terrified that a vampire could come in through her bedroom window at any moment and get her.

She stepped closer towards the sitting woman and tapped on the blonde's hand with her own.

"Stef?" Callie whispered.

The blonde tried not to smile or laugh but it was getting harder since she knew Callie was in front of her face just watching her.

Callie stared at the woman in disbelief.

"Stef," the child voiced even louder this time as she grabbed onto Stef's hand and tugged on it harder.

"Ow!" Stef complained as she opened her eyes and saw the deer in headlights look on the girl's face.

"Callie, what's wrong?" the woman gave in.

"Dere's a vampire in my vroom."

Stef squinted her eyes at her, "Sweets, there's no vampire—"

"Yeahuh," Callie argued as she turned her head back towards the hallway towards her room and then back to Stef. "He was lookin at me dru my window."

Stef's face fell but after a few seconds she remembered they lived on the third floor. Callie was definitely lying or being paranoid. "Kiddo, I think you're just scared after watching the movie."

Callie crawled up onto the couch next to Stef and handed her the princess movie. It was obvious that she was ignoring her. "Here," she said as Stef took the movie into her hands and Callie placed her attention on her blanket and covered her feet so that the vampire couldn't grab them. She turned her attention back toward Stef who furrowed her eyebrows at the little girl.

"You're supposed to be sleeping, hon," Stef reminded her.

"But I can't," Callie complained as she stared back at her mom's girlfriend.

Stef got one look at Callie's desperate eyes and took in a deep breath before she opened the DVD case and took out the movie. She stood up and walked towards the DVD player and opened it, while Callie watched her intently.

"You havta eat lettuce," Callie told her.

Stef made a confused face. "What?"

"When mommy said she got fat, she eats a lotta lettuce."

Stef turned her gaze from the DVD player to Callie but couldn't hide the baffled expression on her face. She eventually chuckled because Callie was just being honest and didn't know any better. "Did you just call me fat?"

"Only your stomach," Callie answered as shrugged her shoulders. "But when you eat lettuce den you can stop getting fat…But it gotta be in a salad."

"Oh, you think so?" Stef teased as she closed the DVD drawer and walked over towards the girl on the sofa.

"No, I know," Callie answered matter-of-factly.

Stef sighed and sat down next to Callie. "You know it's not nice to call people fat. You can hurt their feelings."

"No," Callie shook her head. "I'm juss helpin you," she said as she grabbed onto Stef's arm so that she wouldn't go anywhere if she fell asleep.

Stef smiled at the gesture and chose to let it go for now. Technically, she _was_ getting fat she realized.

* * *

><p>Finally Lena was able to come home. She was glad she had been able to escape the PTO meeting early since very few parents had actually bothered to show up and there were plenty of other teachers present after she gave her speech. She glanced down at her watch and noticed it was a little after nine.<p>

Lena considered calling Stef before she left the school, but a bigger part of her wanted to catch her off-guard, to see exactly what she was dealing with here. Sure, she texted the blonde several times to make sure that Callie had eaten and had been behaving, but she wondered just how well they were getting along. Or _if_ they were getting along…

She slowly put her key inside of the keyhole and quietly tried to turn the doorknob all of the way. She took her time opening the door so that it wouldn't creak and grab either of their attention.

The first thing Lena noticed was the sound of the music from the DVD menu of The Little Mermaid. She peeked her head inside some more, expecting to find her daughter on the couch with her eyes glued to the screen, getting ready to watch the movie for the thousandth time. But when she noticed both Stef and Callie curled up on the couch together with Stef's arm protectively around the girl, she couldn't help but look at the two of them with the utmost confusion. Her mouth dropped as she made her way inside of the apartment. She didn't even bother turning around to close the door as she watched the two. Instead, she leaned her body backwards until it closed, just waiting to see if either of them would wake or if Callie had been faking it.

But when the brunette stepped closer, she realized her daughter's mouth was slightly open. She was definitely sleeping.

Lena dropped her purse on the other sofa and grabbed her cellphone from her pocket. This had had to be the strangest thing she had seen in a while. _Before she left them this morning, Callie hadn't even wanted to talk to Stef directly… and now after less than 24 hours they were cuddled up on the couch together? _

She wondered what she missed as she pulled up the camera app on her phone and snapped a picture of the two. She smiled when she stared back at it and wondered if she should wake Stef up just yet. If she had fallen asleep already then she probably had a long and exhausting day. Lena wondered just how hard Callie had worked her while she was gone. The thought cause her not to wake her at the moment...


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

* * *

><p>By the time Stef's eyes flew open, she noticed the navy blue fleece blanket thrown over both her and Callie's bodies. The blonde lifted her head to check the time and noticed it was a little over 10 pm. <em>She was never out like a light this early…<em>

When Stef turned to check if Lena had come home, she noticed the brunette on the other sofa with a book in her hands, sitting close to a lamp so that she could read. Lena lifted her gaze to Stef shortly after and smiled.

"Had a good sleep?" she whispered so not to wake Callie.

Stef smiled and nodded before checking Callie's face again. Lena put her book on the coffee table and got up from the sofa to pick up her daughter.

"I can do it," Stef tried to stop her so that the woman wouldn't have to carry the girl.

"You're pregnant, Stef," the brunette whisper-yelled back. "I'll do it."

The blonde watched as Lena lifted the five-year-old from the couch and she could tell that Callie was too heavy for her by the strain on her face, but still she didn't bother arguing despite how useless she felt at that moment.

_That was probably going to be the most difficult thing for her throughout her pregnancy_ she just began to realize.

Lena came back a few seconds later and saw her girlfriend returning from the kitchen with a glass of water in hands. "She's still sleeping?" Stef asked for confirmation.

"Yes. You wanna tell me what that was about?" she asked teasingly.

Stef sighed and took a sip of her water before answering. "She couldn't sleep and asked to watch a movie," she shrugged her shoulders. "She said there were vampires in her room." Stef sat back down on the sofa and layed, back while Lena did the same right beside her.

"Vampires?" Lena questioned as she squinted her eyes, attempting to think of where this new fear came from.

"We watched a scary movie at the theatre. And it was strange because she was really excited about it… and then she wasn't. I honestly don't even think she watched most of it after the first ten minutes. I saw her covering her eyes with her hand and peeking." The blonde smiled as she recounted the events.

Lena made a face.

"What?" Stef asked.

"Callie and scary movies don't mix," she shook her head.

"Now you tell me," Stef chuckled.

"I should've warned you when you told me you were taking her over there. She knows how scared she is of them. I can't even begin to understand why she wants to watch them…"

"She's a daredevil. I was like that too," Stef tilted her head.

Lena smiled. "I was an angel," she replied as she pursed her lips and looked away.

"I'm sure you were," Stef chuckled again. "And she behaved pretty well after the movie. We came straight home, I played Candy Land with her about a thousand times—"

"Who won?"

"Oh I did of course," Stef made a duh-face at her girlfriend.

"Stef," Lena chastised.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You're supposed to let her win. She's a kid, honey."

"That's not a rule," Stef stated matter-of-factly. "And I read all of the rules to that game. I know them by heart. Caught your little girl trying to cheat in the process though."

"Well, I can't blame her if she was being taken advantage of by an adult," Lena laughed.

"Ha-ha," Stef said. "Taken advantage? You clearly do not know how sneaky Callie is. She was making up her own rules along the way. _You can't go if you get a green card with two squares. You can't go if you pass me and go right in front because then I can't move_. I was practically letting her win by letting her get away with those cockamamie rules…"

"But?"

"I can't help how good I am," Stef shrugged her shoulders and tried to look smug. Lena couldn't help but smile at her. "…And anyway, she basically called me fat today so I think we're more than even."

Lena's mouth dropped open. "No, she didn't!"

"Yes, she did," Stef answered her girlfriend.

"I warned her about that," Lena appeared unimpressed. "I told her not to call anyone fat. She learned that lesson the hard way. Can you believe who she first used that word with?"

"Do I even wanna know," Stef mumbled.

"My mother," Lena said seriously, much too seriously for Stef who chuckled immediately afterwards.

"I'm sorry," Stef answered. "You know it kind of serves her right since she called me a bimbo," the blonde mumbled as she watched Lena's eyes, which looked almost horrified.

"Who told you th— Callie," she rationalized with an understanding nod.

"Umhm," Stef nodded too. "Were you going to tell me your mother hates me?"

"She doesn't hate you," Lena said. "Anyway… I took care of it and talked with her. She knows that I care about you a lot so she's just going to have to deal with it. It's my life. Not hers. I'm not a child," she voiced in an angrier tone.

"Oookaaay," Stef put her hands up in submission. "I get it. No need to scold, mama."

Lena leaned her head on Stef's chest. "I'm sorry but every time I think about that day I just…" Lena tried to shake away the thought. "You know what this means right?"

"That you're about to start a raging war with your mother," the blonde answered with another chuckle.

"No," Lena looked down at her girlfriend's belly and gently ran her fingers over it. "We're going to have to tell Callie."

* * *

><p>"What? Why?" Stef scrunched her face up at the woman.<p>

"Because if we don't, then she's going to keep calling you fat or at least think it. And she's probably going to need some time to adjust to the idea too."

"She's just finally coming around, Lena…"

Lena looked up at her girlfriend, "Which is why I'll tell her. You have your own problems to deal with."

Stef squinted her eyes in confusion, "Like?"

"Like telling Mike…"

Stef sat up straight in her seat, causing Lena to pull away. "Mike?"

Lena nodded.

"Who says I have to tell Mike?" she tried to sound serious but even the ridiculousness in her own question was obvious to both of them. She just preferred to prolong that discussion if she could.

"Honey—"

Stef let out an exaggerated sigh. "I don't even know how he's going to react, Lena. What if… what if he doesn't even want anything to do with the baby at all? Or what if he does something incredibly stupid and tries to get custody. I would _kill_ him."

"He won't get custody," Lena shook her head.

"How do you know? He's the one with the house… the extra space, the extended family support system. What do I have? A one bedroom apartment, a mom that I hardly ever see, a father that can even bare to look at me…"

"And what am I?" Lena asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Stef tried to open her mouth to answer but Lena beat her to it. "What am I in all of this, Stef? Your part-time girlfriend? Is that it? Am I expected not to be a part in all of this? Are you going to just—"

"No, Lena. That's not what I said," Stef interrupted her. "The point that I'm trying to make here is that a judge might not take our relationship under consideration if Mike files for custody. Come on, Lena. A newly-outed lesbian who is still trying to divorce her husband… I'm a mess compared to Mike. Not to mention the fact that I work so many hours in a day and I'm going to have to go on light duty soon… and then maternity leave…"

"So what are you going to do, Stef? Tell Mike your getting fat?" Lena questioned sarcastically. Stef sighed again. "That's not going to work because a) he's not 5 and b) you work with him. You're going to have to tell him. And the sooner you do it the better because he might be able to use this secrecy against you if you wait too long and he figures it out on his own… Besides, he signed the divorce papers right? So he knows that it's over between you two and you're still friends. If he wants to be a part of the baby's life than he should get opportunity. As much as I hate to say it, you have to tell him."

Stef stared at Lena for a long time. She knew how hard it was for Lena to try to convince her, to allow someone she hated for so many reasons, into the baby's life. But this was _his_ baby too. There was no going around it, and maybe he wouldn't even want to be involved at all…

The blonde watched as Lena leaned down and kissed her stomach. "Either way this kid has you and me… and maybe Callie," Lena smiled.

"How about you tell Mike and I tell Callie. I like that idea waaayyy better. Huh? What do ya think?"

Lena shook her head and lifted herself back up to meet Stef's eyes, "I'm sure you do," she said right before kissing the blonde on the lips.

Stef backed away slightly to say something, "I know that I have you too. I didn't mean it like that at all. You're the only good thing that I have right now. All of this, actually."

Lena nodded and mumbled an "I know" before she kissed her again.

Stef ended up reciprocating in the kiss and felt herself getting deeper and deeper into it. The fact that she knew she wanted more made her back away quickly.

Lena stared back at her with a puzzled expression, "What is it?"

"Callie's here. And I don't want to get too… caught up if we're not going to…"

Lena tried her best to hide her smile. She knew exactly what was going on. She learned plenty about the raging hormones during pregnancy in college but it seemed all too knew to her girlfriend.

"What's so funny?"

"You," Lena replied matter-of-factly just before she placed her lips gently on the nape of Stef's neck. "Just relax," she whispered as she felt the woman easily giving into her.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/n: So sorry for going awol on you people. December was a crazy month for me. But yes, I'm still here. I will try my best to pay more attention to my stories from now on. Thanks to all of you who have hung in there. I really appreciate it :)**

**Chapter 21**

It was the end of the workday, and Stef watched as Mike began packing up in the locker room once they both finished their shift. She kept turning towards him as she stood by her own locker, contemplating on whether or not to actually say anything. He went completely unaware of her nervous movements as he continued to go about his business.

And in her mind, she was still trying to convince herself that this information could be saved for another day. That it wouldn't matter if she told him today or a few days from now. But her paranoia kept getting in the way of her illogical plan to chicken-out.

The possibility of the damage that could happen or the change of attitude he might have if somehow he had gotten ahold of the information beforehand. Their friendship would definitely be over and things would just get all the more awkward in the workplace. Stef didn't want to risk that.

"Bye, Stef. I'm out," Mike said with a wave before he started walking away from her.

"Mike," Stef raised her voice a little so that he would definitely turn around.

"Yeah, what's up?" Mike asked while turning around to look at her.

"Um, can I talk to you for a sec?" Stef started nervously. _How else was she supposed to start the conversation?_

"Yah?"

"Oh no. Not here. Outside," Stef confirmed. The only other people besides Lena who knew by now were her mom and the captain. The last thing she needed was for someone else to walk in and tell the whole squad about their business... Her business.

Mike furrowed his eyebrows for a split second but quickly nodded and started to follow her out of the place. Once they were both all the way outside, Stef moved a little far off to the side of the building, something that had confused Mike even more than he already had been. When Stef finally turned around to look at him, she pressed her hands together and placed her mouth in formation as if she were about to speak.

"Stef, what's all this about?" Mike asked abruptly.

"Uh," she finally began. "So I... Well, we," she tried to correct but then she changed her mind, "... I mean I am... I'mmm preg-nant." Stef stopped to stare at him nervously for a few seconds. But those few seconds turned into longer than she had expected, and Mikes face remained the same throughout most of them. Completely emotionless and with a slight air gap between his top and bottom lip that he wasn't even using for air at this point. After what felt like the longest 20 seconds of Stef's life, Mike's expression finally changed to one of confusion now as he furrowed his eyebrows again, opened his mouth a little more and shifted his entire weight to one side. Stef gulped hard but quietly as she tried to patiently wait for his response. "What..." He stopped to stare at her, "What did you mean by _we_?"

Stef couldn't bring herself to respond to him right away. She hadn't remembered the last time she ever felt this nervous around him. And then she did... It was the day she told him that she was a lesbian.

"The baby... is yours too, Mike."

"Excuse me?" Mike tried to smile as if it were all a joke. When he saw Stef's expression didn't change the smile stayed but his attitude didn't. "You've got to be kidding me, right? You think you're pregnant? With my baby?" He stopped to give her a short and sarcastic laugh. "Stef, I don't know much about pregnancy, but I do know we haven't...had sex in like what... Three four months? There's no way that—"

"I'm four months pregnant," Stef interrupted.

Mike had to turn his attention away from Stef's face because all of this was too overwhelming for him to deal with. He couldn't look her in the eye while he processing all of this at once. And as much as he hated to say it, a thousand alternatives and explanations kept rolling in his mind about what Stef had just admitted to him. His eyes faced the ground for what felt like a lifetime until he finally found the nerve to ask the next question. "Are you sure?" He asked with his expression the same while he stared at Stef.

"Well that's what the doctor and my growing gut has told me."

"No," Mike interrupted. "I mean, are you sure that it's mine?" Mike corrected as he crossed his arms over his hips and stared at the blonde.

Stef's facial expression and posture immediately changed at the end of his question. She went from being nervous to being irritated in a flash. "Are you serious?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I mean... I don't know who've you been with since—"

"Mike, what part of _I'm a lesbian_ don't you understand?" Stef tried to remain calm but an instant snappiness was heard through her question.

"I know _that_. I'm just... How do I know that you haven't been with other men while you were with me."

"Excuse me?" Stef stopped him in a forceful voice as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Mike knew that he had said something wrong but he couldn't help but feel justified in his own question. "Look, no offense, Stef but I already know you've been with other women while you were with me. So how do I know—"

"One woman!" Stef yelled angrily. "And Lena and I were nowhere near together _until_ I told you the truth."

"Sure, Stef," Mike continued in a sarcastic tone. "And you didn't sleep with any other women before you decided to leave me."

"No I haven't, Mike!" Stef voiced her frustration with him even further. She took a deep breath when it was obvious that she couldn't convince him otherwise. "And even if I did, _which I didn't_, but even if I did, last time I checked I couldn't get pregnant that way."

"I know that, Stef," Mike answered bitterly. "But how do I know that you didn't sleep around with..."

"Men?!" Stef wailed as she kept her eyes focused on her idiot ex-husband.

Mike had to glance down at the floor. Something he always did when his wife scolded him for one thing or another.

"Wow, Mike," Stef mumbled while shaking her head disapprovingly. "You have got to be by far the dumbest man on the face of this earth."

He lifted his gaze at her comment. "Why? I'm sure you dykes sleep around with everything before you pick a side?"

Stef's face froze at the man's comment and for a second she couldn't believe that he was seriously saying all of this to her. He had never shown such a strong and opinionated reaction toward her decision to leave him for a woman. She figured that he of all people had understood her, that he had understood why she had to leave. Stef was now beginning to think that he had pretended to understand it all and took her leaving harder than she had thought… Or avoided the truth to begin with.

The blonde forced herself to glance away from the man in front of her. "You know what, Mike? …I didn't want to even tell you in the first place. And from you're reaction, I obviously shouldn't have. But I did my part here. I _told you the truth_. Think about _me_ what you wish. You want to be an arrogant prick and make up lies just so you can convince yourself of them and be in denial, then _fine_. But don't say I never told you and that you didn't know this. I don't have to hear from you ever again for all I care!" she voiced with obvious rage in her tone.

They both stared at each other for a long time afterwards while Stef was just waiting for Mike to challenge her.

But he never said anything.

Stef didn't even bother to stay for his late and unneeded comment as she turned away from him and began walking toward her car, just thinking about how unprepared she was for his reaction.

To be continued.


End file.
